







-o -«•> > 




' aO*^ V'* 











































• •s 






A'i.;^-.v .o^^.s^^A ..■^^'.ci^^'V , 









o » A 











Viscount Northcliffe 

From a Painting hy Tabfo 



> 



^ 



NORTHCLIFFE 

BRITAIN'S MAN 
OF POWER 




By WILLIAM E. CARSON 

Former American Correspondent 
of the Northcliffe Newspapers 



NEW YORK 
DODGE PUBLISHING CO. 

33d St. - EIGHTH AVENUE - 34th St. 



Copyright, 1918, by Dodge Publishing Company 



N 25 !9I8 



©G!.A499441 * ^/ . ^ 



CHAPTER 


' 


PASS 




Foreword 


11 


I 


When England Awoke . 


17 


II 


Genius in Training- 


52 


III 


Success AT Twenty-four 


89 


IV 


Dealing in Millions 


115 


V 


A Wonderful Newspaper . 


142 


VI 


Women and Pictures 


169 


VII 


" The Thunderer " 


. 196 


VIII 


Northcliffe at Work . 


2S2 


IX 


Social Glimpses . . . . 


257 


X 


American Experiences . 


290 


XI 


At the Front 


321 


XII 


The British War Mission 


356 


XIII 


A Message to America . 


385 


XIV 


What the Future Holds . 


416 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACIMQ 
FAeB 



Viscount NorthclifFe Title 

Alfred Harmsworth (1891) .... 72 
Front Page of the First Harmsworth Paper ^ 

(reduced) 90 

Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth (1897) ... 94 

Elmwood (1897) 106 

Fleetway House 130 

Alfred Harmsworth (1897) .... 154 

Lord Rothermere 192 

The Times Office * 226 

Lady NorthclifFe * 260 

Sutton Place ....... 268 

The Hall, Sutton Place 282 

An Exciting Moment . . . . . 292 
A Snapshot (1901) . . . . .302 

Fishing for Tarpon . . . . . 320 

In Paris (1917) 362 



* These illustrations are used through the cour- 
tesy of Everybody's Magazine. 



FOREWORD 

An ancient saying, " The hand that wields 
the pen holds the scepter of government," 
has been strikingly illustrated in the career 
of Lord Northchffe. Essentially a product 
of this age, he represents that vast develop- 
ment of modern times which controls gov- 
ernments and sways nations, — the power of 
the press. 

A genius in business-building, world- 
famous as a journalist and newspaper 
owner. Lord Northcliffe has become the 
most forceful and dominating figure in 
British public life. He was, above all else, 
the first man to arouse the Enghsh people 
to the importance of strenuous and efficient 
methods in conducting war. Defying a tem- 
pest of execration, he has exposed abuses, 
smashed cabinets, unmade and made prime 
ministers, dethroned popular idols, and re- 
lentlessly pursued and attacked the national 
tolerance of muddling — at once the Eng- 
lishman's habit and, strangely enough, his 

11 



12 FOREWORD 

boast. In short, anything that threatened 
or interfered with an efficient prosecution of 
the war has been a target for Lord North- 
cliff e's deadly journahstic lance. Through 
his great newspapers, especially The Times 
and the Daily Mail, he has kept Britain 
alert to all that menaces the nation's safety 
and prestige. 

When the real story of the war is written, 
historians will probably call it a war of 
highly organized armies, machine guns, and 
artillery; but the men who have had to do 
with the business of it will always know 
that the leaders of the people who main- 
tained efficiency behind the armies filled a 
role as important as that of the ablest gen- 
erals. For a leader to arouse public opin- 
ion, and even oppose it, for the country's 
good, has often needed a higher degree of 
courage than to lead a regiment where 
shells were falling. Such has been the mis- 
sion of Lord Northcliffe, who, by his fear- 
less efforts in promoting national efficiency, 
has revolutionized the whole system of gov- 
ernment in Great Britain, with far-reaching 
effect on the destinies of the British Em- 
pire. Through the power of his press he 



FOREWORD 13 

convinced the nation that it was necessary 
to discard old ideas and to adopt a new 
system in which the business man would 
take the place of the politician. The fact 
that such a system was born amidst the 
musty traditions of British statesmanship 
makes it seem almost miraculous. 

In this eventful revolution of war time 
Lord Northcliife has taken the foremost 
part. No other man has had so much to do 
with the commercialization of government 
and in bringing about a general recognition 
of the theory that good government is 
simply good business. Even while the war 
is raging he has foreseen that a special 
preparation is needed for the colossal ad- 
justments of peace. He has also warned 
the world that unprecedented social changes 
are impending, and that the spread of So- 
cialism is certain to cause vast upheavals in 
which existing institutions will undergo 
many alterations. 

The achievements of Lord Northcliffe in 
war time form only a part of his story. No 
other man who has scaled the heights of 
fame in this age has made the ascent so 
quickly as he, and none has had such a mar- 



14. FOREWORD 

velous career. Indeed, the story of his rise 
from obscurity to eminence is so full of 
strange experiences and amazing events that 
it reads almost like fiction. From its begin- 
ning to the present time it is a dramatic 
blending of romance and hard facts. 

Owing to his frequent visits to this coun- 
try and the consequent publicity that he has 
received, the name of this enterprising jour- 
nalist, pubhsher, and public man has become 
familiar to large numbers of Americans 
who admire his versatility, originality, bril- 
liant achievements, and efficient methods. 
He is unique among Englishmen in having 
a thorough knowledge of our national aims 
and problems, his outlook being far more 
American than English, although he remains 
as British as ever and is the most ardent 
of patriots. 

As the head of the British War Mission 
to the United States, Lord Northcliffe, in 
1917, became even more widely known by 
reason of the magnitude of his work. The 
enormous expenditures that he supervised 
totaled eighty million dollars a week, and 
covered all commodities needed by Great 
Britain for war purposes. Under his con- 



FOREWORD 15 

trol were ten thousand men, engaged in buy- 
ing war supplies. His efficient methods 
made his work such a pronounced success 
that on his return to England he was 
thanked by the king and received the higher 
title of viscount. 

Such is the man whose services to his 
country have been recognized the world 
over and who is undoubtedly the most in- 
teresting figure in public life at the present 
time. His strenuous personality and stir- 
ring deeds have incidentally created a wide- 
spread demand for a complete account of 
his eventful career. 

While it is true that in recent years many 
newspaper and magazine articles describing 
this remarkable genius have appeared, yet 
none has presented a correct picture of him. 
The reason is that he is far too big to be 
compressed into a single article, for volumes 
could be devoted to his achievements. 

In England the real Northcliffe is as lit- 
tle known as in America, which probably 
accounts for the conflicting views of him 
that exist there. By his own countrymen he 
has been called the most dangerous of men 
and the sanest of men, an unselfish patriot 



16 FOREWORD 

and a self-seeking egotist. He is to-day the 
most admired and the most vilified man in 
Great Britain. 

The only way in which his true character 
can be revealed is by relating what he has 
accomplished and summing up the results. 
When that is done, the real Northcliffe 
emerges to replace the Northcliffe of imag- 
ination. Such is the object of the present 
volume, which tells the complete story of 
Lord Northcliffe's career and enables him 
to be seen as he actually is. 

The author, it may be added, was associ- 
ated with the great journalist for many 
years, and belonged to the staff of his news- 
paper organization. Before and behind the 
scenes, the writer had an opportunity to 
study this masterful man, and to observe, at 
close range, his achievements in the business, 
social, and political realms. The resulting 
story reveals the true Lord Northcliffe, por- 
trays his life of endeavor, and shows him 
to be animated by patriotic motives and 
high ideals in his public enterprises. The 
career of Lord Northcliffe, in short, sup- 
plies the best answer to all questions as to 
his place in the world to-day. 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 

" You shall not tell the people the truth," 
the British censor had, in effect, declared. 
The British press was muzzled. 

Incompetency's idea was to lie smugly 
behind a wall of secrecy. To tell the truth 
to the people who were paying the price 
of war with blood and treasure would be 
treason. 

It was England's darkest hour. 

At that fateful time, in the spring of 
1915, when the war outlook was serious and 
the safety of the Allies trembled in the bal- 
ance, one man in England had the courage 
to speak out. But for this single fearless, 
unselfish patriot, England's doom would 
have been sealed because she would have 
awakened too late from her torpor and 
complacency. 

While the British censor was suppressing 
the facts and incompetency rejoiced, this 

17 



18 NORTHCLIFFE 

man was preparing to attack the mighty 
fortress of official incapacity, to scale its 
walls, and to plant the standard of efficiency 
on its highest tower. 

The man who displayed this unflinching 
courage was Lord Northcliffe, unquestion- 
ably Britain's strongest man and a power 
in the British Empire. As the owner of 
The Times, — the famous " Thunderer," — ^the 
Daily Mail, and other great English news- 
papers, he represents the mightiest force of 
the press. As a leader he represents the 
great mass of the British people. 

Undaunted by threats and unintimidated 
by warnings from high officials, Lord North- 
cliffe prepared to launch a swift attack and 
reveal the truth about the war to the Brit- 
ish public, which remained blissfully igno- 
rant in regard to what was taking place at 
the front. 

On May 20, 1915, Lord Northcliffe called 
his editors together at the Daily Mail office 
in London, to discuss this momentous ques- 
tion. 

As they assembled in the council room, 
he entered briskly and took his seat at the 
head of the table. A determined-looking 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 19 

man of middle age, heavy shouldered and 
strongly built, with massive head pushed 
forward aggressively, his keen eyes took in 
every one at a glance. His greeting was 
terse. Even a stranger would have instantly 
perceived that this forceful man whose mag- 
netic personality filled the room was a 
leader of men. 

In his hand Lord Northcliffe held a dis- 
patch that contained alarming news from 
the front. Before him was spread an edi- 
torial based on this dispatch. When he had 
read both to his editors, it was necessary to 
decide whether the news should be pub- 
lished. To submit it to the censor would 
mean its suppression. To publish it with- 
out the censor's permission would be a seri- 
ous offense, as Lord Northcliffe very well 
knew. Anything, in short, that might tend 
to unsettle public confidence and give com- 
fort to the enemy, would be practically 
equivalent to treason. 

It was a tense and dramatic moment. 
While consternation reigned among his 
staff. Lord Northcliffe rose and paced the 
room, swiftly reviewing the situation. The 
risk, he knew, was great. Could he face a 



20 NORTHCLIFFE 



possible accusation of treason by publish- 
ing the truth, and at the same time with- 
stand the consequences of daring to attack 
the idol of the British public — Kitchener of 
Khartoum? Northcliffe, who looked grave 
and felt even more grave than he looked, 
realized that it would be taking desperate 
chances, but his sense of patriotism out- 
weighed all other considerations. 

Somewhat brusquely he asked his experi- 
enced colleagues for their opinions and lis- 
tened to what they had to say. It was a 
daring move that he had in mind, and as 
they expressed their views, they watched his 
face anxiously to see which way he would 
decide. Was Northcliffe strong enough to 
make the great decision which might lead 
to the most brilliant achievement in his 
career? Was he willing to risk going down 
himself that Britain might be saved? 

Lord Northcliffe paced the length of the 
table and back once. His mind was made 
up. He wasted no words in argument. 

Turning tp his editors, he said firmly and 
decisively: "That news must go into the 
paper. We have got to save England; the 
people must know the truth." 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 21 

One of his editors, a veteran journalist 
whom he esteemed highly, ventured to sug- 
gest that a delay might be advisable, that 
there was great personal risk attached to 
this action. 

" There is no other alternative," reiterated 
Northcliflfe, " the people must have the 
facts." 

Addressing his managing editor, he gave 
his final instructions. " The editorial is 
right," he said. " Send the paper to press." 

The next day, May 21, the British public 
was astounded when the Daily Mail pub- 
lished an editorial entitled: "The Tragedy 
of the Shells; Kitchener's Grave Error," in 
which were embodied the main facts con- 
tained in the news dispatch. It was fear- 
lessly declared that Lord Kitchener, the idol 
of the nation, then absolute czar of the 
War Department, was sacrificing thou- 
sands of British soldiers by supplying the 
army with shells which were almost useless 
in fighting the Germans. Despite repeated 
warnings, he had persisted in sending out 
shrapnel when what was vitally needed was 
high-explosive shells that would blast a pas- 
sage through the German trenches and en- 



22 NORTHCLIFFE 

tanglements and enable the British troops 
to advance. 

The editorial declared, moreover, that 
while huge explosive shells fired from the 
German " Big Berthas " and wide-mouthed 
howitzers plowed their way through the 
British defenses, causing frightful slaughter, 
the British were compelled to reply with 
shrapnel, which was almost as ineffective as 
blowing peas against a concrete wall. 

All England was in an uproar when the 
Daily Mail editorial appeared. Rival news- 
papers attacked Lord Northcliffe with great 
bitterness, declaring that the statements con- 
cerning Kitchener were maliciously false. 
The government was urged to suppress the 
offending newspaper and arrest its editors, 
who were declared to be guilty of treason. 
So great was the nation's faith in its idol. 
Kitchener, that the general public refused 
to believe the charges, and Northcliffe found 
himself, for the time being, the most detested 
and execrated man in England. 

A mob in a London street howled at the 
Daily Mail and shouted for vengeance; 
members of the London Stock Exchange, 
to show their indignation, ceremoniously 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 23 

burned copies of the " scurrilous sheet," as 
they termed the newspaper. Meetings were 
held all over England, at which people 
solemnly pledged themselves never again to 
read any of the Northcliffe journals. Feel- 
ing rose to such a pitch, that threats were 
made against the newspaper owner's life, 
and an armed guard was found necessary 
for his protection. 

Through all this commotion, however, 
Lord Northcliffe did not lose his head, but 
remained cool and undaunted, because he 
knew that his statements were based on 
facts. He was also sustained by a high 
sense of duty and patriotism; for if there is 
one dominating impulse in the character of 
this man, it is his intense love for England. 
With him it masters every other considera- 
tion. That is why he had determined to 
speak out when he discovered that Kitch- 
ener's policy was bringing his beloved coun- 
try to the verge of defeat, regardless of the 
attacks which he knew would follow. 

At that critical time, when an avalanche 
of censure and abuse was sweeping down 
on the Daily Mail and its owner. Will 
Irwin, the American correspondent, called 



24 NORTHCLIFFE 

on Northcliffe and found him grave but 
resolute. " How is the circulation of the 
Daily Mail? " asked Irwin. " It's increas- 
ing," replied Northcliffe; and he added iron- 
ically: "I suppose they're buying copies to 
burn them." 

But the situation was serious. Adver- 
tisers began to drop off, rival newspapers 
increased their attacks, and Northcliffe was 
urged to retract his statements. Instead of 
doing so he caused the charges made by the 
lyaily Mail to be repeated in The Times. 
Replying to his critics, he declared in the 
Daily Mail: "All that we have hitherto 
written will be justified in the near future." 
Meanwhile, the government, realizing that 
what the Daily Mail had said was perfectly 
true, took no action toward punishing its 
fearless owner for having published the 
truth. 

To understand the precise state of affairs, 
it is necessary to get an idea of the war 
situation in May, 1915. At that time the 
Allies were in a serious predicament. The 
French had been forced back at several 
points, and a break followed by another and 
possibly a successful drive on Paris seemed 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 25 

inevitable. All hopes of holding Gallipoli 
were being abandoned by the British, the 
Turks, under German leadership, having 
rendered the campaign there abortive. On 
the eastern front the Russians were in re- 
treat at some important points, their forces 
badly disorganized. Modern strategy, as 
carried out by the Germans, had thus chal- 
lenged the highest skill of the generals who 
led the armies of France and Russia. 

But to the British public this dishearten- 
ing array of facts seemed of minor impor- 
tance, because the London newspapers were 
continually filled with reports of British vic- 
tories in Belgium. " British Forces Ad- 
vance " ; " Huns in Retreat " — so read their 
headlines from day to day. The French 
might retire, likewise the Russians, but what 
mattered that as long as one British soldier 
was a match for three Germans and the 
enemy shrank from facing British bayonets? 

It was such stuff as this that was fed to 
the British public in the spring of 1915, 
when the censor made everybody in Eng- 
land happy by putting his blue pencil 
through almost anything in the shape of 
bad news. Thus the impression became gen- 



26 NORTHCLIFFE 

eral that the war would soon be over, that 
the Kaiser, like Napoleon, would be shipped 
to St. Helena, and that British " Tommies " 
would be seen parading victoriously in the 
streets of Berlin. 

That was what the man in the street be- 
lieved. But there were some people in Eng- 
land who shook their heads and silently 
doubted all these glowing stories. Men who 
had returned from the front whispered that 
all was not well. That there was some foun- 
dation for this pessimism the sequel will 
show. 

In April, 1915, Lord Northeliffe received 
a dispatch from a military expert, who rep- 
resented his newspapers at the front, in 
which it was stated that the British army 
was endangered by an alarming shortage of 
high-explosive shells. How this dispatch 
managed to pass the French and British 
lines has never been told. 

A practical newspaperman and well quali- 
fied to fill the position of " star reporter," 
Lord Northeliffe sometimes investigates im- 
portant matters himself instead of relying 
on some one else for his information. On 
this occasion the situation was so critical 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 27 

that he decided, with his characteristic thor- 
oughness, to ascertain the facts by acting as 
his own reporter. With this object, he se- 
cretly crossed the Enghsh Channel and 
visited the British headquarters, where he 
learned that the statements contained in the 
dispatch were substantially correct. Hav- 
ing secured this information he returned to 
London, where he immediately held a coun- 
cil at the Daily Mail office. Then followed 
the publication of the news, with all the sen- 
sational developments already described. 

It was a daring feat to print the news 
and to defy the censorship. It was even 
more serious to defy British public opinion 
by attacking Lord Kitchener, the grim, 
taciturn hero of the nation, who allowed 
no interference with the War Department 
which he governed with absolute power. 
And yet, much as he admired Kitchener, 
Northcliffe had taken the right course. 

The truth is that while Lord Kitchener 
had done some magnificent work in raising 
a great British army at the beginning of 
the war and getting it over to France, yet 
he was not a military expert versed in the 
science of modern warfare. He was un- 



28 NORTHCLIFFE 

doubtedly a good business man and a won- 
derful organizer, but he had gained most 
of his experience in India and Egypt, and 
his long absences from Europe had kept 
him out of touch with the latest develop- 
ments in arms and ammunition. 

As time went on a realization of these 
facts began to dawn in England. Protests 
from the front regarding the deficiency of 
high-explosive shells began to reach the 
heads of the British government in such 
volume that the truth could no longer be 
suppressed, and the censorship was lifted. 
It was then discovered that Lord North- 
cliflfe had been right after all. Rival news- 
papers at once learned the facts from their 
own correspondents, and instead of continu- 
ing to denounce the fearless journalist as a 
traitor they repeated what the Daily Mail 
and The Times had already said. 

Whatever satisfaction Northcliffe might 
have derived from this vindication did not 
obscure his original purpose in making his 
charges. While the British troops, as the 
result of the outcry that was raised, were 
promptly supplied with suitable munitions, 
there still remained the difficulty that they 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 29 

were not getting enough. Northcliffe at 
once seized the opportunity to make himself 
heard again. 

The war, he declared, was being misman- 
aged because the War Department was 
conducted on inefficient lines. That depart- 
ment, he insisted, should be restricted to its 
proper military business of raising and 
training soldiers, while the purely industrial 
business of producing munitions should be 
►kept distinctly apart. And so it came to 
pass. Stirred by the arguments of the 
Northcliffe press, the British government 
created a new cabinet post. Minister of Mu- 
nitions, and David Lloyd George, a man of 
the people and admired by the masses, a 
practical man as well as a statesman, was 
selected to fill the position. 

Here again was seen how dominating is 
Northcliffe's sense of patriotism. He had 
ruthlessly attacked Kitchener, whom his 
newspapers had once lauded as a national 
hero, because the head of the War Depart- 
ment had proved inefficient. He now gave 
his utmost support to Lloyd George, the 
Welsh radical, whose political ideas he had 
bitterly opposed. As Chancellor of the Ex- 



30 NORTHCLIFFE 

chequer Lloyd George had done good work, 
and ISTorthcliffe was ready to admit that he 
was the right man to head the munitions 
department. 

Raising thie slogan, " Shells and More 
Shells ! " Lloyd George, backed by the 
Northcliffe press, speedily aroused the peo- 
ple of England to the importance of supply- 
ing what was needed, and in an inconceiv- 
ably short time Great Britain was covered 
with a network of arsenals and munition 
factories. Northcliffe had correctly inter- 
preted the spirit of the English people. 
They were ready to make any sacrifice that 
would lead to victory, but they required 
direction. 

Hundreds of thousands of girls and 
women, drawn from all classes, including 
school-teachers, stenographers, domestic serv- 
ants, and salesgirls, and even the daughters 
of the well-to-do, all anxious to "do their 
bit," were soon engaged in munition manu- 
facturing. They had to be taught the use 
of deadly explosives. It meant the estab- 
lishment of a new school of labor. To ac- 
commodate these workers new towns of 
temporary houses, similar to our military 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 31 

camps, were put up in the country dis- 
tricts. Huge government factories were 
built in the important industrial centers, and 
correlated industries were enlisted in the 
work of supplying mimitions. In many 
ways the whole face of England became 
entirely changed. Efficient organization re- 
placed haphazard effort, enthusiasm sup- 
planted indifference, and for the first time 
the people of Great Britain set themselves, 
with heart and soul, to the big task of win- 
ning the war. 

Northcliffe had at last won his fight for 
high-explosive shells. The factories, indeed, 
were turning them out rapidly and in such 
vast quantities that Britain was able not 
only to supply her own army and heap up 
reserves for any imaginable contingency, but 
also to supply her allies. 

This, in brief, is the story of the mo- 
mentous decision made by Northcliffe on 
the twentieth of May, 1915, which undoubt- 
edly saved England from defeat. When 
properly equipped the British army, instead 
of remaining supinely on the defensive, 
made a general advance, scattering the Ger- 
man shock battalions and giving the cause 



32 NORTHCLIFFE 

of the Allies a new impetus. The French, 
taking heart again, drove back the Germans 
at several points, while the Russians, catch- 
ing the same spirit, cleared the enemy out 
of the territories on the eastern front and 
kept them out until the debacle of German 
intrigue made chaos of Russia. 

Momentous as Northcliffe's decision had 
been to the Allied cause, it was of equal 
importance to himself. His stand against 
ojfHcial incompetency had been the supreme 
test of his power. If he had failed he 
would not only have met his Waterloo, but 
would probably have sunk in influence and 
reputation to the level of a common scold. 
With success, however, there came the reali- 
zation that this man, fearless of conse- 
quences, had struck only because his coun- 
try was in danger and that by his action he 
had saved England. Northcliffe's power 
was thus confirmed, and he came to the 
front again as the unofficial spokesman of 
the British people and the mandate of their 
will. 

How far-reaching Northcliffe's influence 
ultimately became was strikingly shown in 
the autumn of 1916, when he brought about 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 33 

the most effective political revolution ever 
wrought through a group of newspapers 
— the overthrow of the Asquith govern- 
ment. The story can be told in a few 
words. 

The Liberal party, which had been in 
power under Mr. Asquith when war was 
declared, and the coalition government which 
succeeded it, under the same leadership, 
were both found to be wanting in the 
strength and energy required to pilot Great 
Britain safely in a time of grave national 
peril. A scholarly politician of the old 
school, Mr. Asquith was clearly not an ideal 
leader, and therefore when it became evi- 
dent that the government was mismanaging 
the war, Northcliffe, thundering with Jovian 
authority, demanded the appointment of an 
efficient, compact war cabinet that could 
get things done. So great was the force of 
public sentiment aroused by his newspapers 
that Mr. Asquith was at last compelled to 
retire, giving place to Lloyd George as 
prime minister. 

In accordance with Northcliffe's advice, 
given editorially, the new premier at once 
formed a cabinet of practical, self-made 



34 NORTHCLIFFE 

business men who were experts in their own 
lines, such as Sir Joseph Maelay, the Ship- 
ping Controller, once captain of a tramp 
steamer; Lord Devonport, Food Controller, 
who started life as clerk in a grocery and 
now owns a chain of retail stores; and Sir 
Albert Stanley, once an American citizen, 
who became a traction expert in the United 
States before retm^ning to England, the 
land of his birth. 

Even more interesting than these notable 
men is Sir Eric Geddes, who was appointed 
Deputy-General of Munitions. A self-made 
man who had gained a variety of experi- 
ences in all parts of the world, from rail- 
road builder to business manager, he took 
over the production of rifles, small arms, 
transport vehicles, machine guns, and sal- 
vage. He introduced a system by which 
empty brass cartridge cases were used over 
a dozen times. He reorganized and recon- 
structed the railway system in northern 
France, which required the building of a 
terminal as large as the Grand Central Ter- 
minal in New York City for the efficient 
handling of trains. 

Under Geddes' direction, lines were built 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 35 

SO expeditiously that when the Germans re- 
treated on the Somme in 1917 the railway- 
followed right behind them. He also took 
charge of the canals in northern France, 
over which are moved each month hun- 
dreds of thousands of tons of freight and 
thousands of wounded men. He gath- 
ered a corps of experts in all branches, 
knowing that for an expert job it was requi- 
site to get experts and leave them alone. 
After the Battle of Jutland there was dis- 
satisfaction with the management of the 
British fleet and a demand for younger and 
redder blood. Geddes was then made Con- 
troller of the Navy, and subsequently he 
was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. 
The appointment of experts to manage 
the various departments of the government 
put an end to a system of compromise and 
delay. Northcliffe himself regarded this in- 
novation as the most sweeping change that 
had taken place in British public life since 
the passage of the Reform Bill in the reign 
of William IV. Stripped of its glamour, 
the whole episode was merely a translation 
of efficient team work into terms of national 
administration. In other words, it was the 



36 NORTHCLIFFE 

case of a practical man applying practical 
methods during a national crisis. The re- 
sult has been that to-day in no Allied coun- 
try have business talents been so completely 
commandeered as in England. With the 
exception of the premier, — Lloyd George, — 
Mr. Balfour, and a few other seasoned office 
holders, the cabinet is practically a board 
of directors that can deal with any problem 
of cost and distribution that happens to 
come up. 

The remarkable achievement of North- 
cliffe in saving England in the dark hours 
of 1915, and his subsequent triumph in forc- 
ing the retirement of a British prime min- 
ister who had proved to be inefficient, were 
only in keeping with the whole course of 
his journalistic career. For the last twenty 
years he has been at the forefront of every 
national movement, some of the most im- 
portant of which he started himself. In 
looking backward no one can fail to be 
impressed by the almost prophetic insight 
that has characterized most of his agitations. 

Probably the first of his important bat- 
tles, and one which sounded the keynote of 
his subsequent career, was in the days of the 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 37 

South African War, when the embattled 
Boer farmers were out-fighting, out-maneu- 
vering, and out-generaling the British forces. 
At that time, when he was plain Alfred 
Harmsworth, the enterprising journalist, 
through his newspaper, the Daily Mail, ham- 
mered the incompetents in the War Depart- 
ment and the incompetent generals in the 
field until Lord Roberts, and then Lord 
Kitchener, were sent out to South Africa to 
bring victory. 

With a broad vision of imperial unity 
rivaling that of Cecil Rhodes, Northcliffe in- 
sisted that the Boers, though beaten, were 
not disgraced and must be welcomed into 
the British family. With other far-seeing 
men, he urged that the South African states 
should be consolidated into an autonomous 
colony, and assisted materially in bringing 
about that magnificent result. To-day, with 
minor exceptions, the Boers have become the 
staunchest supporters of the British cause, 
and General Smuts, once a bitter foe of 
England, now sits in the War Council in 
London. 

The same vision of unity in its relation 
to other British colonies has for years been 



38 NORTHCLIFFE 

a tenet of Northcliffe's faith. J'or the pur- 
pose of strengthening the bonds of Empire 
he has issued overseas editions of his news- 
papers, which have had an enormous circu- 
lation in all parts of the world. He has 
also organized overseas clubs, for the pur- 
pose of cultivating a spirit of fraternity 
among all men of British descent, and these 
have gained a vast membership. Whenever 
opportunity has been afforded, he has raised 
his voice in defense of the rights of the 
British colonies, and in his newspapers and 
periodicals has emphasized the wonderful 
progress that is being made in all the self- 
governing dominions. During the present 
war he has been unstinted in his praise of 
the heroism displayed by Britannia's sons 
from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and 
other parts of the Empire that fly their own 
modifications of the Union Jack. 

Northcliffe's prediction of the great war, 
in a widely published interview in 1909, 
would apparently endow him with seerlike 
qualities were it not for the fact that his 
prophecy was based upon information ob- 
tained from his correspondents and confi- 
dential agents. When he discovered that 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 39 

Germany was preparing to strike more sud- 
denly than in 1870, when France was drawn 
into a disastrous war, he urged England to 
get ready for the impending conflict. His 
warnings, however, fell on deaf ears, with 
the result that England, like America, was 
unprepared when the crisis arrived. 

When the war began he saw at once what 
the British public did not realize, namely, 
that it would be a long war, and that the 
task of raising and equipping an adequate 
army was gigantic. He saw, too, that com- 
pulsory service must come, as he had in- 
sisted for several years. The British peo- 
ple, however, would have none of it, believ- 
ing that conscription was undemocratic and 
that a volunteer army would suffice. In 
spite of opposition from a large element of 
the public and the attacks of some influen- 
tial newspapers, the undaunted advocate of 
efficiency carried on his campaign for con- 
scription, and eventually won the fight. 
The result has been that Great Britain 
to-day has an army of four millions on the 
fighting line, while men unfit for service in 
the field are engaged in some form of activ- 
ity nationally beneficial. 



40 NORTHCLIFFE 

Despite the pleas of pacifists for disarma- 
ment, INTorthcliffe fought successfully for 
the maintenance of the British navy at the 
standard of twice the strength of its most 
powerful rival. But for his continued pres- 
sure, the German navy would have been 
permitted to surpass that of Great Britain. 
After the war began, his broom swept the 
almost sacrosanct British admiralty clear of 
various incompetents and brought about the 
substitution of young and able efficients. 

In the early days of the war, when stories 
of sacrifice and slaughter were partly con- 
cealed by the censorship, the Northcliffe 
newspapers presented the facts instead of 
attempting to evade them. When the dire- 
ful retreat from Mons occurred, these papers 
were the first to relate how narrowly the 
Allied troops had escaped worse disaster. 
Instead of keeping quiet and pretending that 
each successive mistake that England made 
was another " strategic retreat," as decent 
Englishmen were expected to do, North- 
cliffe constantly pointed out the blunders 
and insisted upon their being remedied with 
all possible speed. Though not in the thick 
of the fighting, he was kept informed of 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 41 

every important development, and was ready 
at all times to expose incapacity in high 
circles. The record of this power behind 
the army is a narrative of unflinching brav- 
ery which has been a means of bringing 
about a high state of military efficiency. 

An embargo on exports to Holland and 
the Scandinavian countries that were sup- 
plying Germany with food and other com- 
modities — a plan which the United States 
eventually adopted — was another policy for 
which NorthcliflPe fought. 

He has also been the greatest advocate 
of the freedom of the British press. From 
its inception the censorship in England was 
his target, his assertion being that it was a 
device to mask inefficiency and conceal the 
truth. His barbed arrows at last compelled 
the government to modify its restrictions. 

The progress of this resourceful man, 
however, has not been along a rose-strewn 
path of public applause. In fact, no man in 
England, in recent years, has been the tar- 
get of more bitter abuse. His enemies are 
legion, particularly among his newspaper 
rivals and the official inefficients. But much 
as he is hated, he is feared still more, be- 



42 NORTHCLIFFE 

cause no one knows where his lightning will 
strike next. Hence, incompetency shud- 
ders, while competents in the war game are 
constantly kept up to the mark. Alone 
among English citizenry he has refused to 
permit his countrymen to maintain their 
complacent torpor of superiority and the 
hereditary belief that they are immaculate 
and unconquerable by virtue of being Eng- 
lish. Such heresy could have but one re- 
sult, an utter detestation of Northchffe by 
a certain proportion of the English upper 
classes. 

This may possibly serve to explain why 
he has been so persistently loaded with 
honors. It is an old formula with the gov- 
erning classes in England that whenever a 
man becomes dangerous to the established 
order of things, the best way to keep him 
quiet is to give him a title. This plan, how- 
ever, proved a wretched failure in North- 
cliffe's case. 

In 1904, when he was Mr. Alfred Harms- 
worth, he was made a baronet — a sort of 
hereditary knight — and was transformed into 
Sir Alfred Harmsworth. When he became 
more persistent than ever in his attacks on 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 43 

the old school of politicians, it probably oc- 
curred to the higher powers that perhaps 
the title was not big enough. In 1906, 
therefore. Sir Alfred was honored with a 
peerage, receiving the title of baron and a 
seat in the House of Lords. As Lord 
Northcliffe the versatile journalist proved 
to be even more energetic in stirring up 
trouble for the clique of elderly politicians 
in the official circle. Presumably as a last 
resort, he has recently been created a vis- 
count, but his enemies already opine that 
even a dukedom would furnish no curb to 
his activities. 

From even this brief review it can be 
readily understood why Northcliffe's appeals 
to the public have assumed all the force and 
meaning of a national message, and have 
made him far more powerful than any Brit- 
ish statesman of the present era. And what 
is more, the people of England regard him 
with confidence, because he invariably sees 
dangers ahead and warns the government 
how to avoid them. Amidst the perils of 
war he has acted as Britain's national pilot, 
and his advice has usually been followed 
whenever it has become necessary, for the 



44 NORTHCLIFFE 

safety of the ship of state, to jettison an 
incapable cabinet or to drop incompetent 
heads of departments. 

In attempting to describe Lord North- 
cliffe most writers have found themselves 
at a loss for words to make his amazing 
personality known to the world. Searching 
for appropriate terms, they have called him 
"The Colossus of the Press," "The Na- 
poleon of Journalism," " The Modern War- 
wick," and " The Goad of Empire." They 
have described him as the personal director 
of democratic Britain, the champion of war, 
and the dare-devil leader of British public 
opinion. 

All these phrases, however, are too mildly 
insufficient to portray the self-made man 
who has risen from obscurity to giant emi- 
nence, whose magnificent achievements are 
written on history's pages, and who to-day 
is unquestionably the most commanding 
figure in the British Empire. Such is Lord 
Northcliffe, a public man who has no paral- 
lel in the United States or any other 
country. 

Modern history contains no such charac- 
ter as this forceful man who holds no 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 45 

public office, and yet is able to make or un- 
make governments by welding millions of 
supporters together in carrying out his 
great enterprises for his country's welfare. 
Through his extraordinary genius and abil- 
ity, as the facts have shown, he has unified 
British democracy, which, under his guid- 
ance, has transformed Great Britain into a 
single-minded, purposeful nation whose con- 
stant aim is efficiency. 

The leader of the British press and un- 
doubtedly the most influential journalist in 
the world. Lord Northcliffe, through his 
newspapers, especially The Times and the 
Daily Mail, reaches every grade of Britain's 
population from proletariat to prince, with 
the result that he has built up a following 
more permanent and powerful than that of 
any statesman. Whenever he agitates for 
a change in the government or launches any 
other great movement, a large proportion 
of the British public follows his leadership. 
Thus he has become the unofficial spokes- 
man of millions of British voters just as 
surely as if he were their chosen prime 
minister. 

While he possesses all the power of a great 



46 NORTHCLIFFE 

politician upheld by the votes of a nation, 
Northcliffe's power, unlike that of even the 
greatest politician, is continuous and un- 
trammeled because it is derived from the 
newspapers that he owns and directs. No 
American newspaper owner has ever had 
such enormous power as this world-famous 
journalist possesses, nor has any group of 
American newspapers ever exerted a na- 
tional influence comparable with that of the 
Northcliffe press. The main reason is to 
be found in the material differences between 
the social conditions of Great Britain and 
those of the United States. 

While this country is a huge melting pot 
for many races fusing together to make a 
nation, the British pubhc, on the other 
hand, is a coherent public with a common 
language, a common heritage, and common 
ideals. In other words, the people of Great 
Britain are all British and are influenced by 
whatever appeals to Britons. 

There is still another point of difference. 
Because of the vastness of the United 
States, even an important newspaper can 
influence only a comparatively small part of 
the country. A New York newspaper, for ex- 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 47 

ample, has little or no influence on the public 
of San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, or even 
Philadelphia. In Great Britain, on the con- 
trary, the great mass of its forty-six mil- 
lion people are concentrated within two 
small islands and the Northcliffe newspapers 
reach every corner of the United Kingdom on 
the day of publication. The people of Great 
Britain, moreover, take more seriously than 
we do the editorial utterances of important 
newspapers, and this explains why it is that 
a great newspaper, such as the London 
Times, commands a national following and 
when it calls for action can count on a sub- 
stantial response. 

Given these fundamentals, plus the gift 
of leadership, the well-nigh superhuman 
energy, and the almost psychic instinct for 
public needs which Lord Northcliffe pos- 
sesses, it can be readily understood how he 
has been able to weld his newspapers into a 
national force that can make or unmake gov- 
ernments and formulate policies to an ex- 
tent unknown in the United States. Through 
them he has become one of the most domi- 
nating figures that Great Britain has ever 
seen. At his command forces are arrayed 



48 NORTHCLIFFE 

that sway elections and enhance or destroy 
political reputations. 

The policy of the Northcliffe press, it may 
be added, has been wholly constructive, and, 
as Lord Northcliff e has never sought a pub- 
lic office, whatever appeals he may make 
are clearly not inspired by any desire for 
political honors. His newspapers, which ex- 
press his vivid ideas and reflect his remark- 
able personality, have in the face of abuse 
and every accusation up to treason twice 
undone and remade the high councils of 
England at war. 

To-day there is no man in Great Britain, 
and certainly but few in the world, more 
conspicuous than Lord Northcliffe or so 
vitally interesting to the public. His career 
has proved in many ways that the big things 
of the world are always done by individuals 
and that one-man power is the principal 
thing that counts. That is why some of his 
admirers have described him as the biggest 
man in the world. 

Perhaps one of the best summaries of 
Northcliffe's personality, his marvelous com- 
bination of pluck, originality, endurance, 
and perseverance, has been given by Isaac 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 49 

F. Marcosson, an American writer, who has 
made a careful study of the Northcliffe 
press and its enterprising founder. 

" Whether," says Marcosson, " Northcliffe 
is a crisis-monger or merchant of clamor, 
prophet of panic and depression (as his 
enemies make out), or whether he is the 
voice of democracy, the safeguard of public 
liberty, and the custodian of the nation's 
welfare (as his friends and supporters at- 
test), one fact is certain: he is the liveliest 
and most vital entity in England, a man 
alternately praised and damned, who by the 
changes he has wrought must be regarded 
as the Warwick of the war. If he lived in 
America he would be a President maker." 

To use American terms, Northcliffe is 
Britain's exponent of " the big stick," " the 
man with the punch," and " the apostle of 
efficiency." A still better epitome of his 
character is contained in the phrase of an 
English admirer, " The man who gets things 
done." 

Northcliffe's value as a national asset to 
England has not been overlooked by the Ger- 
mans. " Strafe Northcliffe ! " has long been the 
cry of the subsidized German newspapers, 



50 NORTHCLIFFE 

some of which have declared that hanging is 
too good for Germany's most persistent 
enemy. Since the war began he has been a 
relentless foe of German propaganda, and 
has ceaselessly called attention to the impor- 
tance of fighting this subtle influence which 
the Teutons employ to misinform neutrals 
and, if possible, to cause dissension among 
the Allies. 

Realizing that while Northcliffe and his 
newspapers are on guard a powerful influ- 
ence against Germany exists in England, 
the Kaiser, it is said, has actually offered 
the title of baron and the iron cross to any 
of his officers who succeeds in keeping the 
eminent newspaper owner quiet for all time. 
That some efforts have been made to earn 
this reward was evidenced some months ago 
when Northcliffe's country house on the 
coast of Kent was bombed by aeroplanes 
and shelled by a destroyer. On the latter 
occasion the famous editor narrowly escaped 
with his life. 

The achievements of this man of destiny 
in recent years form a suitable climax to his 
past career. No man ever had a more 
eventful life; none has had a greater variety 



WHEN ENGLAND AWOKE 51 

of experiences. That being the ease, it fol- 
lows that his life story is one that abounds 
with lights and shades, with humor and 
pathos. Let us now proceed to follow that 
story from the beginning to the present 
day, and to learn from it how Alfred 
Harmsworth, an obscure writer, became a 
celebrity with the title of Viscount North- 
cliffe. 



II 

GENIUS IN TRAINING 

It is an interesting fact that ancestry has 
much to do with the making of character, 
and that whatever is great in a man may 
be the result of certain inherited traits. All 
that is needed for their development is a 
suitable environment and a touch of inspi- 
ration. 

JBuffon, who took this view, has defined 
genius as patience which requires the elec- 
tric spirit to arouse it into power. Those 
who agree with the theory and believe that 
talent is hereditary, will find that Lord 
Northcliffe's parentage affords convinc:"::g 
proof that his genius was, in a measure, due 
to happily balanced qualities inherited from 
his father and mother. He is, in short, that 
rare and perfect mixture of Irish and Eng- 
lish which successfully combines the virtues 
of the two divergent races. He has all the 
vision, humor, initiative, aggressiveness, and 
electric spirit of the Celt, tempered with the 

62 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 53 

patience, bulldog tenacity, persistence, cour- 
age, and practicability of the Anglo-Saxon. 

The world-famous journalist was born 
July 15, 1865, at Chapelizod, County Dub- 
lin, Ireland, and received the name of Al- 
fred Charles William Harmsworth. His 
father, Alfred Harmsworth, who belonged 
to a branch of the Harmsworth family long 
settled in Yorkshire, was a barrister of 
some distinction. In London, where he 
practiced, he was regarded not only as a 
brilliant lawyer, but as a man of rare judg- 
ment, quick perception, tact, and versatility. 
During his career he was counsel in a num- 
ber of important cases, one of his greatest 
legal triumphs having been achieved in con- 
nection with a celebrated libel action. 

The destined leader of the British press 
was equally fortunate in having a mother 
who possessed more than ordinary attain-^ 
ments and force of character. Mrs. Ger- 
aldine Mary Harmsworth was the daughter 
of William Maflfett of County Dublin, and a 
member of an Irish family which has been 
distinguished for centuries. Many army 
officers and members of the British civil 
service have borne the name of Maffett. 



54 NORTHCLIFFE 

With an Irish mother and an Irish birth- 
place, Great Britain's strong man is usually 
regarded as more Irish than English. 

Ireland, it has been said, is a good coun- 
try to be born in, but a good country to get 
out of, although at times it may be a good 
country to go back to. However this may 
be, the fates d,ecreed that Alfred Harms:- 
worth, the future genius, should be brought 
up in England. When he was scarcely a 
year old, his father, who had been engaged 
in some important Irish htigation, returned 
to London to resume his ordinary legal 
practice. A home was established in Hamp- 
stead, a well-known suburb of north Lon- 
don. There the other members of the family 
were born, three daughters and six sons. 

No better place than Hampstead could 
have been found in which to rear a future 
editor and publisher. It is a quarter of 
London which abounds in literary associa- 
tions, having been frequented for two cen- 
turies or more by artists and men of let- 
ters. The reader who is familiar with the 
careers of English novelists will recall that 
Wilkie Collins was a resident of Hamp- 
stead, and it was there that George du 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 55 

Maurier wrote his famous story " Trilby." 
Rose Cottage, in which the Harmsworths 
lived, had once been tenanted by Leigh 
Hunt, the poet and essayist, friend of Keats 
and Shelley, Charles Lamb and Lord 
Byron. 

As they grew up, the Harmsworth boys 
developed into stalwart, athletic, typically 
English lads, with a great liking for cricket 
and other outdoor sports. Near their home 
was Hampstead Heath, an open space of 
two hundred and fifty acres, well wooded, 
diversified with several sheets of water, and 
to a great extent left in its natural state. 
It was a fine playground, and also a suitable 
place to arouse an interest in the picturesque 
life of the past. In the early coaching days 
the Heath was the haunt of such celebrated 
highwaymen as Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, 
and Jack Sheppard, who have figured in 
many a novel. As may be surmised, such 
an environment was well calculated to stir 
a youthful imagination. 

At an early age, Alfred Harmsworth was 
sent to a private school in Hampstead. 
From all accounts there was nothing of the 
model boy in his behavior at that period, 



56 NORTHCLIFFE 

nor anything from which highly moral les- 
sons for the young might be derived. He was 
not particularly studious; he seems to have 
been quite as mischievous as any of his school- 
mates, and to have gone through the usual 
boyhood experiences of playing and fighting, 
and the minimum amount of studying. Never- 
theless, those who knew him as a boy assert 
that he was usually at the head of his class, 
and without any special effort on his part. 
He did not excel in arithmetic, but seemed 
to have a pronounced aptitude for English 
composition, history, and geography. Out 
of school he was a daring lad, full of high 
spirits, and much addicted to practical jok- 
ing. He is described as having steel-grey, 
searching eyes, hair of the peculiar shade 
sometimes termed " mouse colored," a fair 
complexion, and striking features, the au- 
dacity which lurked within being concealed 
by a thoughtful expression. 

According to his schoolfellows, Alfred 
Harms worth was a " bear " for asking ques- 
tions of all sorts and conditions of people 
on every conceivable subject. He was for- 
ever investigating the whys and wherefores, 
soaking up information as a sponge soaks 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 57 

up water; later in life he astonished people 
by his encyclopedic knowledge of the most 
out-of-the-way subjects. 

It was at this interesting period that the 
Harmsworth family left Hampstead and 
settled in St. John's Wood, another London 
subrrb, also famous as a literary and artistic 
center. Here the boys grew up and re- 
ceived part of their education, three of them 
having attended the Marylebone Grammar 
School, an excellent institution, correspond- 
ing in some respects to an American high 
school. 

While living in St. John's Wood the fu- 
ture celebrity is said to have figured as the 
hero of a romance. The story, as related 
by an old resident of the district, is as fol- 
lows: The Harmsworths lived in a detached 
house with a large garden, on one side of 
which there was an unoccupied house, while 
on the other side there was a select seminary 
for girls from twelve to sixteen. After 
school hours the Harmsworth boys were 
continually playing cricket, and the ball was 
often sent flying over one of the garden 
walls. In the case of the garden of the un- 
tenanted house it was easy enough to recover 



58 NORTHCLIFFE 

the ball, but when it went into the school 
garden the situation was different. Naturally 
enough, the Harmsworth boys were a thorn 
in the side of the prim old maid who con- 
ducted the seminary. If she took her young 
charges out for a walk, going or coming 
they were sure to meet the attractive Al- 
fred or his younger brother, the burly 
Harold, and discipline was much upset. If 
two or three young ladies retired to a se- 
cluded corner of the garden for a ladylike 
game of croquet, before long the wretched 
cricket ball would make its appearance, 
causing them to flee in terror. 

The irate school principal sent many 
sharp notes on the subject to Mr. Harms- 
worth, who remonstrated with his boys 
without effect, and sometimes even took a 
hand in the game himself. Mrs. Harms- 
worth, like a good mother, was even more 
lenient. She wanted the boys to have not 
only the back garden to play in, but the 
whole world. Napoleon, she argued, had 
made the world his playgroimd; why should 
not Alfred do the same? Even in those 
early days she perceived her son's capabili- 
ties and placed no limitations on the possi- 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 59 

bilities of his career. She sent polite notes 
to the school principal, but made no guar- 
antees that the cricket should be stopped. 

In these circumstances, the principal or- 
dered the offending ball to be confiscated 
the next time that it made its appearance. 
It is said that when the ball was again sent 
flying over the wall, a graceful little girl 
of thirteen, with large, dark eyes, took pos- 
session of it. Harold was sent over to nego- 
tiate for its recovery and demanded the 
ball in rather a peremptory English man- 
ner. The little girl refused to give it up. 
Alfred made the next attempt, and by em- 
ploying a skillful combination of tact and 
Irish blarney he not only succeeded in get- 
ting the ball, but made an ally of the little 
girl, who promised that thereafter she would 
throw it back herself. Tradition says that 
six years later the little girl with the dark 
eyes became Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth. 

Some good Irish fairy must surely have 
substituted ink for water at the baptism of 
Alfred Harmsworth. His ambition to be- 
come a writer and publisher was clearly 
shown at the grammar school at Stamford, 
Lincolnshire, to which he was eventually 



60 NORTHCLIFFE 

sent. While there he started a printed 
magazine that dealt with happenings of in- 
terest to the boys and their teachers. It 
was brightly written and remarkably well 
edited. Even then, although he was only 
fifteen years old, the youthful genius dis- 
played the courage and optimism which have 
been his guiding stars through life. The 
first number of his magazine contained the 
naive announcement: " I have it on the best 
authority that this paper is to be a marked 
success." Thus early in life the boy pub- 
lisher discovered for himself the blessed 
uses of advertisement and foreshadowed the 
policy that eventually made the name of 
Harmsworth a household word in England. 
In the second number he published this : " I 
am glad to say that my prediction as to the 
success of my magazine has proved correct." 
This attraction to journalism, however, 
was not at all to the liking of Mr. Harms- 
worth, who wanted Alfred to become a 
lawyer. He decided to put a check on his 
youthful ambitions, and to this end arranged 
for a practical object lesson, calculated to 
work a cure by showing the dark side of 
newspaper life. A friend of the family was 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 61 

induced to take the aspiring youth to the 
offices of a London evening newspaper, one 
afternoon, to see the first edition printed. 
On the way this friend, who was himself in 
the newspaper business, dilated on the hor- 
rors, perils, temptations, evils, and poor 
earnings of newspaper folk. 

Gloomy and depressing, this description 
of a journalist's life was a fitting introduc- 
tion to the offices of the newspaper, which 
were in an old, dilapidated building that 
reeked with the combined odors of well- 
oiled machinery and newly printed paper. 
But the sight of the busy reporters and 
copy readers, the copy boys, running hither 
and thither, the mysterious offices of the edi- 
tors, and the roar of the whirring presses, 
fairly entranced young Harmsworth. " Why, 
this is ripping!" he exclaimed enthusias- 
tically, and added, " I should just like to 
work here." The next moment he was in- 
terviewing a printer's devil and discovering 
how the ink-smudged boy earned his living, 
afterwards picking up some information 
from a pressman as to how many copies an 
hour the big press could turn out. Before 
he left the place he had become infected 



62 NORTHCLIFFE 

with that subtle atmosphere of a printing 
plant which appeals to every born news- 
paperman and, once felt, is never over- 
come. From that moment Alfred Harms- 
worth resolved to make his way in the world 
as writer, editor, and newspaper owner. 

It was in vain that his father took him 
to the law comets to witness the trial of some 
important cases, in the hope of curing his 
newspaper obsession. The dignified judges 
and counsel in their wigs and gowns ap- 
pealed to the youth from a picturesque point 
of view, and he could see the possibilities 
of some good " magazine copy," but noth- 
ing could induce him to begin the study of 
" Blackstone's Commentaries " and " Chitty 
on Pleadings." When his father presented 
him with the two volumes nicely bound in 
calf, Alfred's pubhsher-Uke comment was: 
" They've got jolly fine covers." History, 
however, does not record that he ever looked 
into their pages. 

So strong was his determination not to 
follow the law that at last parental objec- 
tions were overcome, and on leaving school 
he was allowed to try his hand at writing. 
In 1881 young Harmsworth, then sixteen 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 63 

years old, was introduced to a shrewd old 
Scotchman, James Henderson of Red Lion 
House, Fleet Street, London, a man of no 
great literary capacity but of much percep- 
tion. Among a number of weekly papers 
that he published was one called the Young 
Folks' Budget As Alfred had edited a 
printed school journal, there were no mys- 
teries of type or proof for him, and he could 
write interestingly. Much impressed by his 
ability, Henderson engaged the youthful 
aspirant to write short stories and articles 
for the Budget. His contributions soon 
made a hit, and what is more, they attracted 
the attention of Sir William Ingram, owner 
of the Illustrated London News, who pub- 
lished a boys' paper called Youth, He in- 
vited the young writer to send stories to 
that periodical, and Alfred was thus kept 
busy writing for Henderson and Ingram. 

It was at this time that the future pub- 
lisher first made the acquaintance of writing 
folk, some of whom afterwards became fa- 
mous in the literary world. Several writers 
whom he met were visitors at Red Lion 
House, where Henderson served a luncheon 
at one o'clock every day, to which members 



64 NORTHCLIFFE 

of the staff and outside contributors were 
invited. 

On one of these occasions Henderson 
introduced the youthful Harmsworth to 
another guest, a rather eccentric-looking 
young man, with a pale, oval face and won- 
derful eyes. Although the visitor wore a 
velvet coat, usually regarded as a sign of 
affectation, his manner was friendly and 
unassuming. After the introduction, while 
Alfred was trying to make up his mind as 
to what sort of man the wearer of the vel- 
vet coat might be, Henderson remarked ad- 
miringly, in an undertone, " Yon body can 
write." The "body" was Robert Louis 
Stevenson. It was Henderson, by the way, 
who suggested for Stevenson's great story 
the title " Treasure Island," used by the 
author in place of " The Sea Cook," which 
he had originally selected. 

A year after Alfred entered the writing 
business, Sir William Ingram, impressed by 
his energy, industry, and versatility, en- 
gaged him as assistant editor of Youth at 
a salary of twenty-five dollars a week. It 
was in this way that he gained his first 
practical lessons in journalism. 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 65 

While holding this position the youthful 
sub-editor was suddenly called upon to help 
his- mother, who was left in rather strait- 
ened circumstances by the death of his 
father. There was a large family to pro- 
vide for, and the younger children had to 
be reared and educated. The older boys 
were therefore obliged to give their assist- 
ance; two of them obtained employment in 
government offices. Young as he was, Al- 
fred took the lead in directing the family 
affairs. 

At the age of eighteen, young Harms- 
worth, eager to see more of the world, left 
home and shared a room with another youth 
who lived in Battersea, one of the working- 
class quarters of London. His experiences 
at this formative period were of great value 
in after years. A close observer, he began 
to find out what sort of reading matter was 
needed by the people among whom he lived. 
He soon discovered that their demands were 
not being met by the publishers of that 
time. 

Those were the early days of the wood- 
pulp industry, which enabled paper to be 
produced at a remarkably low cost. Photo- 



66 NORTHCLIFFE 

engraving had also been introduced, and 
this cheaper process was supplanting hand 
work to a great extent. The observant 
Harmsworth, who was well informed on 
these subjects, was quick to perceive that 
cheap paper and cheap illustrations would 
mean a new era of cheap periodicals in 
which large fortunes would be made, and 
he foresaw that he might make a fortune 
himself. 

The youthful editor's appetite for any- 
thing novel in the shape of literature was 
then insatiable. At the Illustrated London 
News office he could see papers from all 
parts of the world; nothing worth noticing 
escaped his attention. He devoted his 
evenings to studying the pubhcations of 
various English towns and cities, to reading 
the magazines of continental Europe, and 
especially to watching the development of 
publications in America, ever the leader in 
the publishing industry. The more he 
worked and studied the more he became con- 
vinced that England, as far as journalism 
was concerned, was much behind the times. 
In other words, the English people were 
getting not only what they did not want. 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 67 

but what they had to take because there 
was nothing else. 

English journalism in 1883 was of the 
same dull, lifeless, old-fashioned type that 
had existed in England in the 'fifties, but the 
English people had moved far ahead. Not 
only had the educated classes increased enor- 
mously, but a sort of public school system 
had been established throughout the United 
Kingdom. For years the public schools, at- 
tended by the children of the lower middle 
class and the working people, had been 
turning out bright boys and girls with eager, 
receptive minds. They were developing an 
appetite for something new in the shape of 
reading matter. 

In spite of this, most of the English news- 
papers were edited for what might be termed 
the " high-brow " classes and were not in- 
teresting to the masses. The periodicals 
were in much the same position. With few 
exceptions the monthly magazines were old- 
fashioned in appearance and contents, most 
of them appealing to only the high literary 
classes. The cheap weeklies, such as story 
papers and humorous sheets, were far be- 
hind the times, and for that reason had com- 



68 NORTHCLIFFE 

paratively small circulations. In the matter 
of popular reading matter the requirements 
of the great mass of the English people, as 
Alfred Harmsworth perceived, were ig- 
nored. 

With a desire to get a still wider expe- 
rience, as well as a chance to earn more 
money, the restless genius left the Ingram 
firm at this stage of his career and found 
work elsewhere. After filling some minor 
editorial positions, he obtained employment 
as private secretary to a wealthy business 
man, with whom he traveled extensively on 
the Continent, and thus gained some valu- 
able knowledge of foreign conditions. Later 
on he joined the editorial staff of Iliffe & 
Sons in the old city of Coventry. 

At that time Coventry was the center of 
the English cycle trade, and Iliffe & Sons' 
business was mainly connected with that in- 
dustry. Besides printing nearly all the 
catalogues and other advertising matter for 
the bicycle manufacturers in Coventry, the 
firm published the Cyclist and Bicycling 
News, both weeklies, and the Cyclist Touring 
Gazette, a monthly magazine and organ of 
the Cyclist Touring Club, an international 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 69 

organization. At that time the big-wheel 
bicycles were in use; the modern " safeties " 
had not been invented. 

Thorough in everything that he under- 
took, Alfred Harmsworth not only became 
an expert bicycle rider, but also familiarized 
himself with bicycle construction. Having 
read everything on the subject that he could 
find, he visited the factories and saw bicycles 
made. This gave him a wide knowledge 
of the cycle industry. Incidentally he 
formed an extensive acquaintance among 
professional bicyclists. With this training 
he was not only able to discuss bicycling 
matters from the standpoint of an expert, 
but he scored many a " beat " for Bicycling 
News, the paper which he edited, and in- 
creased its circulation. 

While thus employed he did a good deal 
of free-lance work, contributing articles on 
sport and other topics to newspapers and 
magazines. He also became a writer for 
Tid'Bits, This paper, it should be ex- 
plained, was really the pioneer of modern 
English popular journalism. The way in 
which it came into existence forms an inter- 
esting story. 



70 NORTHCLIFFE 

In the early 'eighties a Manchester man 
named George Newnes made clippings from 
newspapers and magazines — short stories, 
jokes, and other things — ^which he pasted in 
scrapbooks. A large part of his collection 
was clipped from American Sunday news- 
papers. He was the proprietor of an eating 
house largely patronized by cab drivers. 
The scrapbooks were put on the tables, to 
entertain customers, and they proved to be 
immensely popular. 

IVewnes was not slow to notice that his 
clippings had made a great hit, and this 
gave him the idea of starting a weekly 
paper composed of similar scraps. In 1884 
he published the paper, which he called 
Tid-Bits, To push its sale, he tried various 
guessing competitions and awarded liberal 
prizes. The paper also carried a standing 
notice that a thousand pounds ($5000) 
would be paid to the heirs of any reader 
who happened to be killed in a railway acci- 
dent, providing that the victim had a copy 
of the current issue in his possession. 

At first Tid-Bits was published in Man- 
chester, but it proved so successful that 
Newnes soon moved to London. The enter- 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 71 

prising publisher had a knack of getting 
clever young men to write for his paper, 
for he eventually abandoned the idea of 
having it made up entirely of clippings and, 
instead, printed original matter such as 
bright, snappy articles, and stories of a 
column or more. He was quick to notice 
the genius and versatility of young Harms- 
worth, who became a regular contributor of 
articles, always gladly accepted, which made 
an instantaneous hit. 

In course of time Newnes started other 
weekly and monthly periodicals, including 
the Strand Magazine, the circulation of 
which reached over a quarter of a million 
in 1888, owing to the publication of the 
Conan Doyle detective stories, in which 
Sherlock Holmes, the scientific unraveler of 
mysterious crimes, figured so prominently. 
Later on the business was organized as a 
stock company, Newnes became a baronet, 
and when he died in 1910, at the age of 
fifty-nine, he was a millionaire, the pioneer 
fortune maker in this new field of literature. 

Young Harmsworth's work as a free-lance 
proved so remunerative that eventually he 
resigned the editorship of Bicycling News 



72 NORTHCLIFFE 

and returned to London, to be nearer the 
publishers. In those early days he lived at 
Hampstead with Max Pemberton, the nov- 
elist, who had recently left college and had 
married a member of the Tussaud family, 
proprietors of the well-known London wax- 
works exhibition. Max was free-lancing 
himself at that time, and the two young 
men often walked to Fleet Street together 
to sell their articles and stories. 

In 1887, at the age of twenty-two, Alfred 
Harmsworth entered into partnership with* 
an Irish journaHst named Carr, and a busi- 
ness was started under the firm title of Carr 
& Co. The young men arranged to pub- 
lish an Enghsh edition of Outing, the 
American sporting magazine ; they also pub- 
lished an educational paper of small circu- 
lation, the Private Schoolmaster, and a 
weekly cycling paper. They had taken two 
small offices in an old-fashioned three-story 
building in Paternoster Square, the center 
of the London book-publishing district. 

To add to his income, the industrious 
Harmsworth continued his free-lance work, 
including his contributions to Tid-Bits. He 
was greatly interested in the progress of 




Alfred Harmsworth, 1891 

The youthful publisher at Elmwood 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 73 

that publication, which in many ways em- 
bodied ideas that had been latent in his own 
mind about papers for the masses. Newnes' 
success, in fact, had stimulated his own am- 
bition. What Newnes had accomplished he 
believed that he could accomplish himself, 
and he resolved to start a paper of his own, 
an undertaking for which he was thoroughly 
well equipped. 

It was at this interesting stage that an 
American newspaperman had the good for- 
tune to become acquainted with the youth- 
ful writer and publisher and to gather some 
impressions which are now recorded for the 
first time. They are of peculiar interest, 
because they give an accurate pen picture 
of Lord Northcliffe in the days when, as 
Alfred Harmsworth, he was preparing to 
launch his first weekly publication. Since 
he became famous, the great journalist has 
figured prominently in newspaper and maga- 
zine articles, and some of the misstatements 
concerning his early life, which have been 
made by highly imaginative writers, must 
certainly have astonished him, if brought to 
his attention. Therefore, the following 
story, compiled from notes that were made 



74 NORTHCLIFFE 

over twenty years ago, form a notable addi- 
tion to this chapter. 

* * * 

To those who look backward, London in 
the 'eighties of the last century seems to 
have been rather a depressing, miprogres- 
sive city. Electric lighting was not general, 
modern hotels had only just been started, 
and the various improvements that have 
transformed the Enghsh metropolis were 
then unknown. Although it is only thirty 
years ago, it is difficult to imagine London 
without modern buildings, elevators, auto- 
mobiles, taxis, motor busses, rapid-transit 
subways, electric traction, moving-picture 
theatres, telephones, gramophones, and suf- 
fragettes. Even the London fogs of the 
" pea soup " variety seemed to be darker, 
thicker, and more sulphurous than they are 
to-day; 

It was on one of those depressing, foggy 
days in February, 1888, that I first met 
Alfred Harmsworth. Although a mere 
youth at the time, I had gone from New 
York to London as the representative of 
some trade journals, with the object of 
sending them news and special articles. Like 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 75 

Harmsworth, I had worked my way upward 
as cub reporter and editorial assistant and 
had set out to see the world. 

Some weeks after my arrival in London, 
the manager of a typewriter company, with 
whom I had become acquainted, suggested 
that I might increase my slender income by 
writing articles on American topics for some 
of the English weekhes. Forthwith he gave 
me a letter of introduction addressed to 
" Mr. Alfred Harmsworth," who, he as- 
sured me, was the English equivalent of an 
American " live wire." " What Harms- 
worth doesn't know about the writing busi- 
ness isn't worth knowing," remarked the 
typewriter man. " He can tell you what 
to do." 

With the letter in my pocket, I groped 
my way through the fog to the office of 
Carr & Co. in Paternoster Square. Mount- 
ing one flight of stairs in an old building, I 
entered a diminutive office, where I handed 
my letter to the sole occupant, a handsome, 
tall, broad-shouldered, smooth-faced young 
man with " mouse-colored " hair combed in 
a long lock over the right side of his fore- 
head. He wore a suit of light-grey Eng- 



76 NORTHCLIFFE 

lish tweed, made extremely loose after the 
fashion of the time. Somehow he reminded 
me of portraits of Napoleon in early youth 
— striking, keen-eyed, and evidently full of 
enthusiasm. When I inquired for Mr. 
Harmsworth, he admitted that he was the 
man for whom I was looking. 

On reading the letter of introduction and 
learning that I had recently come from 
New York, he gave me a hearty shake of 
the hand and told me to take a seat by the 
fireside. There was an open-grate fire in 
the ofiice, and the warmth was acceptable 
after a walk through the cold, penetrating 
fog. Harmsworth seemed to radiate cheer- 
fulness. When I mentioned the weather, he 
remarked humorously, " Why, this is only 
a mild specimen. Wait till you see one of 
our black fogs; that's where we hold the 
world's championship." 

Then we settled down to talk. Without 
any ceremony, he asked me what had 
brought me to London, what papers I was 
representing, what the publishers paid me, 
and how much they made themselves. " What 
sort of pay do their editors get? " he asked. 
When I told him that some of the editors 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 77 

were paid five thousand dollars a year, 
which was considered a good salary in New 
York, he remarked: " Some of our head 
clerks over here get more than that. A 
thousand pounds ($5000) a year is not a 
great salary." He added : " From what I 
have heard, I am convinced there are better 
chances to make money in England than in 
America. We have the money here, more 
of it than America has, and if a man has 
brains enough he can get his share of it. I 
have never had any inclination to emigrate. 
In fact^ I believe with Tennyson that if you 
would have money you must go where 
money is. When we have plenty of it here, 
what's the use of running away from it? " 
After we had talked for a while, I could 
see plainly that although Harmsworth had 
an English accent and appearance, his tem- 
perament was decidedly American. He had 
none of the reserve of the average English- 
man, but was ready to talk with any man 
who had anything worth saying. He fired 
a volley of questions at me regarding myself 
and what my experience had been, asked 
how much I earned and how much I wanted 
to earn, and what I expected to do with 



78 NORTHCLIFFE 

myself. Sometimes, during our conversa- 
tion, I dropped a remark that attracted his 
attention to a marked degree, " That's a 
good idea for an article," he would observe 
as he made notes on a pad, or " That's 
something we ought *to adopt over here." 

We discussed the American newspapers 
and magazines, their circulation and rates 
of payment to writers. " How do you think 
English magazines compare with Ameri- 
can? " he asked, and without waiting for a 
reply, he added, "Very badly, of course." 
Then he proceeded, " Have you seen Tid- 
Bits? " I said that I had. " Is there any 
paper like that in the United States?" he 
inquired. I told him there was not, because 
the Sunday newspapers published articles, 
stories, and jokes such as appeared in Tid- 
Bits, " That's true," observed Harmsworth. 
" Our papers have been deadly dull, but 
the English people are demanding some- 
thing better and they will have to get it 
before long." 

Our conversation took place in the larger 
of the two offices, but even there space was 
limited, and one had to dodge piles of Out- 
ings and Private Schoolmasters in moving 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 79 

about. I happened to stumble over a stack 
of cycling papers. " I know it's a bad 
paper," remarked Harms worth ironically, 
" but you needn't kick it so viciously." In 
one corner of the room there was a Reming- 
ton typewriter. "You see," he observed, 
" we can't get along without American in- 
ventions. We also have a mimeograph for 
duplicating, and if our people were suffi- 
ciently advanced we might have a tele- 
phone.'" In those days telephones were com- 
paratively scarce in London, and were sel- 
dom seen excepting in large business estab- 
lishments. 

We talked about papers and circulations, 
free-lancing and schemes for money making, 
for over an hour, and at last I rose to go, 
fearing to outstay my welcome, but Harms- 
worth stopped me. " You can't escape just 
yet," he exclaimed. " I've got to pump 
some more out of you." Then he invited 
me to lunch, telling me that he had his mid- 
day meal brought in from a restaurant a 
few doors away. We lunched together in 
a little private office, a third as big as the 
outer office, our talk going on meanwhile. 
Harmsworth was extremely frank. He told 



80 NORTHCLIFFE 

me that he was making about $2500 a year 
from his interest in the business and his 
free-lance work. In addition to Carr, a bar- 
rister named Markwick had an interest in 
the publishing enterprise. 

For an Englishman who had never been 
in the United States I found Harmsworth 
to be remarkably well informed. He had 
gathered a mass of ideas about the United 
States from Americans whom he had met 
and also from his extensive reading, and 
while some of his notions were remarkably 
accurate, others were just as erroneous, 
which of course is not surprising. He 
thought, for example, that New York at 
that time was far behind London in many 
ways, although he admitted that in the mat- 
ter of telephones and other labor-saving de- 
vices, as well as modern office buildings, 
New York might be ahead. From a social 
point of view, however, he imagined New 
York in 1888 to be at about the same stage 
of development as London had been in 
1850 — a dull, depressing sort of place. 
From what he said, he evidently considered 
American men, as a rule, to be far behind 
Englishmen in the matter of general educa- 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 81 

tion, while American women, he thought, 
were superior in this respect to the average 
Englishwomen. 

American newspapers and magazines, 
Harmsworth admitted, were wonderful, and 
were far ahead of anything that Europe 
had ever produced. He asked me about 
American boys' papers and their circula- 
tions. I mentioned the Munro papers, 
the Fireside Companion and Family Story 
Paper; the Street & Smith publications; 
Frank Tousey's Boys of New York; and 
Frank Munsey's Golden Argosy. He had 
seen some of these, and was anxious for in- 
formation about their circulation and profits. 
Even after lunch I was not allowed to 
escape, for as he was going out, he asked me 
to take a walk with him, and we strolled 
along for about half an hour discussing the 
subjects uppermost in his mind — ^news- 
papers and magazines. 

Some days later I happened to call at the 
office again, and was introduced by Harms- 
worth to his partner, Carr, a genial Irish- 
man, who had just a trace of a cultivated 
Irish accent. I also met Markwick, the 
barrister, who was what might be termed an 



82 NORTHCLIFFE 

outside partner. On this occasion, Harms- 
worth, who had already told me about his 
work for Tid-Bits, mentioned that he had 
written a small book on English railways 
for Newnes, which was sold for a shilling. 
" I am now writing another book," he 
added, " and I should like to have you come 
in every day and give me a hand with it. 
The book will be called, ' A Thousand Ways 
to Earn a Living,' and as you have been 
in a good many lines in the United States, 
and have kept your eyes open, you can un- 
doubtedly tell me a few things that I don't 
know. What do you say?" I replied that 
I would accept his offer. 

The next day we met at the office and 
went to work on the book. I operated the 
typewriter and made suggestions, while 
Harmsworth planned and dictated. I found 
him to be a wonderfully fluent and ready 
writer, quick in perception and remarkably 
witty, always seeing the humorous side of 
things and the bright side as well. In fact, 
he was a pronounced optimist. As we 
worked together, however, I could see that 
in many ways his mind had a decidedly 
practical bent, and that beneath his out- 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 83 

ward gaiety there was a solid substratum 
of keen business shrewdness and editorial 
ability. 

The little book which we produced was 
eventually published in Newnes' Popular 
Shilling Series. It was full of information 
about various trades and professions, alpha- 
betically arranged from " Accounting " to 
" Yacht Building." It told the reader how 
to enter these callings, the salaries received, 
and the general prospects. Here is what 
young Harmsworth had to say about jour- 
nalism : 

" It is impossible to hide successful newspaper 
work under a bushel. Rival newspaper proprietors 
are ever on the lookout for smart men, and are loath 
to lose a valuable assistant, for it is a well-known 
fact in the newspaper world that the majority of 
new ventures are promoted by newspapermen who 
have been underpaid or harshly dealt with by their 
employers. A good man has therefore excellent 
prospects of advancement." 

In the course of our talks at this time, 
Harmsworth confided to me that he in- 
tended to start a weekly paper to be called 
Answers to Correspondents, He explained 



84 NORTHCLIFFE 

that it would be full of interesting questions 
and equally interesting replies. " If the 
paper pays," he explained, " and I know it 
will, I shall rent several rooms in some 
building, and will have experts there to 
answer questions. On payment of a shilling, 
anybody will be entitled to ask a question 
and get a reply. I believe that such a place 
would be packed all day with people in need 
of information. What do you think of 
these ideas?" he asked. 

I replied that I was imable to pass judg- 
ment on the idea of a question bureau, but 
as to the paper I did not think it would 
succeed. I pointed out that there already 
existed in London a weekly paper, which 
was made up entirely of questions and 
answers, but it had only a small circulation. 
" Yes," he answered, " that is true, but it's 
a dull publication, consisting of fossilized 
information for the benefit of old fossils. 
My paper will be a live weekly like one of 
the American papers. I have noticed that 
the questions sent to Tid-Bits are always 
interesting, and people like to read the 
answers. I won't publish dull questions or 
answers, and if our supply of questions runs 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 85 

short I'll manufacture them myself." I re- 
marked that in England, as well as in 
America, many newspapers had questions 
and answers columns which were hardly 
noticed by readers excepting those who had 
put the questions. He insisted, however, 
that the reason was that the questions and 
answers were not interesting. Our argu- 
ment left me with plenty of faith in Harms- 
worth's ability but not much faith in his 
idea. 

His optimism and belief in himself at this 
time were unbounded. For example, one 
evening as we were passing the Houses of 
Parliament, I calkd his attention to the 
Clock Tower, where an illuminated device 
above the dial indicated that the House of 
Commons was in session. " I expect to be 
in there some day," he replied thoughtfully. 
" I haven't quite made up my mind whether 
it will be the Commons or the Lords. I 
rather think I shall go into the House of 
Lords, because there would be more scope 
there." 

Another prophetic remark that I recall 
was made by him one day as we were pass- 
ing the Times building. The older part, a 



86 NORTHCLIFFE 

quaint, red-brick structure built in the form 
of a square, dates from the middle of the 
last century. " Isn't it a funny-looking 
old building for a newspaper?" observed 
Harmsworth. " That is one of our great 
British institutions, and the building is typ- 
ical of John Bull's conservatism. I shall 
probably own a daily newspaper some day, 
and may even get The TimeSj but if I do 
I shall never transform it into a yellow 
journal. That would be sacrilege, and the 
British public wouldn't stand it." 

On a public holiday — Easter Monday, I 
think it was — we went out to Hampstead 
Heath to see the historic houses, including 
Rose Cottage, the former home of the 
Harmsworths. We saw the holiday crowds 
from the East End amusing themselves on 
the Heath, and afterwards had lunch at an 
old inn, Jack Straw's Castle, a popular bo- 
hemian resort in those days. Some writers 
and artists were lunching there, and among 
them was Seymour Lucas, a well-known 
portrait painter. " I mean to have Lucas 
paint my portrait some day," said Harms- 
worth, which I thought rather an astonish- 
ing remark to be made by a young man 



GENIUS IN TRAINING 87 

>— — — — I ——————— ^ 

earning about fifty dollars a week. Some 
years later, however, Lucas did paint his 
portrait, and it was exhibited at the Royal 
Academy. 

Near proximity to the great, or even to 
the future great, is said to be infectious in 
some cases. That Alfred Harmsworth's am- 
bition did much to inspire others one inci- 
dent will serve to show. The only employees 
that the struggling firm of Carr & Co. 
could afford were an advertising canvasser 
and an office boy. One day, when I called 
at the office, I found the latter, a youth 
named Norton, executing some fancy steps. 
He told me that he had a great desire to go 
on the variety stage and make a name for 
himself. A few years later Norton and his 
brother made their debut as professional 
dancers, appearing as the " McNaughton 
Brothers." They met with great success at 
the English music halls and have occasion- 
ally toured in this country. 

Harmsworth was preparing to start his 
new paper when I left England in the 
spring of 1888. Eventually I returned to 
New York, and did not revisit London for 
three years. What happened in the mean- 



88 NORTHCLIFFE 

time forms another story, and one so un- 
paralleled that it reads almost like a ro- 
mance. 

* * * 

With this chapter the account of Alfred 
Harmsworth's early training comes to an 
end. Although he was only twenty-three 
years old, he had laid the foundations of 
future success by careful study, persistent 
hard work, and ceaseless observation, which, 
added to genius and ambition, supplied 
qualities that invariably win. He was thus 
well prepared to start upon the great ven- 
ture that was destined to bring him fortune 
and fame. 



Ill 

SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 

Making a start in any business is usually 
a hazardous proceeding when capital is 
limited and much competition has to be 
faced. This is especially true of starting a 
new paper. There is, in fact, probably no 
line of endeavor in which money can be lost 
so quickly in case of failure, and without any 
return for hard work and the capital in- 
vested. 

Alfred Harmsworth knew this to be true 
when he started his first paper, for brief 
as his career had been, he had seen many a 
wreck in the London publishing world. He 
knew, moreover, that not only would he be 
obliged to compete with Newnes, the suc- 
cessful publisher of Tid-Bits, but that sev- 
eral imitators of Newnes, reinforced by a 
large amount of capital, were already pub- 
lishing weeklies. To any one less deter- 
mined than the ambitious young man who 



90 NORTHCLIFFE 

originated brilliant ideas in a small office 
in Paternoster Square the outlook would 
have seemed hopeless, but his determination 
to succeed was overwhelming. 

Heedless of all warnings from well-mean- 
ing friends who feared disaster, Alfred 
Harmsworth completed his plans, made up 
his paper, and sent it to press. It was 
issued on June 2, 1888, a weekly periodical 
of twenty-four pages, printed on cheap 
paper, without illustrations and without a 
cover. On the first page was its title: 
Answers to Correspondents. It was sold 
for one penny (two cents). 

In addition to a variety of interesting 
paragraphs, written in the editorial office, 
the new paper contained a selection of 
short articles, supplied by the editor and 
some of his free-lance friends. The rest 
of the pages were filled with bits of humor, 
some really good short stories, and three 
columns of brightly written editorial chat, 
in which the youthful pubhsher discussed 
his new enterprise and asked for public sup- 
port. 

Here are the titles of some of the articles 
that appeared in the first number: " A Liv- 



iHTEt^ESTmO. 



EXTt^AORDirlAHY. 



Rmusmo. 



^!l 




ON EVERY SUBJECT UNDER THE SUN. 



No 



JUNE 2nd, 1888. 



[European Postai^e. Jd.] 



Price Id. 



"ANSWERS" IS PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAV MORNINB 



28, Paternoster Square, 



A LIVING CLOCK. 



CONTENTS 



HOW DO YOU DO 7 



Dr Willis mentions an idiot, who was accus- 
tomed to repeat the strokes of a clock near which j Ass drawing water, 
he lived, uitb a loud voice. Afterwards having ,,,,»,— «, «-^„ 

been removed into a parish where there was no A LIVING CLOCK. 
church clock, he continued as before to call the Qm^ stockings. 
hours successively , and this with so great accu- 

racy, both as to the number of tolls, which he HAIR POWDER- 
pretended (o count, and as to tbe lencth of the , ^ •. . _ _ 
inlervjuing hours, that the family where he Origin of grog. 
boarded conducted all their businets by bis prO' 
claniation cf time. 



ASS DRAWING WATER. 

SuMF veara a^oaD ass was employed at Caris- 
brooke Cattle, in tbe Isle of Wight, in drawiog 
water by a large wheel from a very deep well, 
supposed (o have been sudW by the Romacs. 
Wlitn his keeper wanted water, he would say 
to the ass, " Tom, my boy, I want water; get 
into Ihe wheel, my good, lad," which Thomas 
'iniffiediately performed with an alacrity and 
sagacity that would have done credit to a nobler 
animal ; and no doubt he knew the precise num- 
ber of tioies necessary for the wheel to revolve 
upon its axis to complete bis labour, because 
ever)- time he brought the bucket to the surface 
of the well, he constantly slopped and turned 
round his head lo observe the moment when bis 
master laid hold of the bucket to draw it towards 
him. because he bad then a nice evolution to 
make, either to recede or advance a little. 



8ILK STOCKINGS. 

MEZblvvY, the French historian, acquaints us 
that in 1559 Henry II. of France was the first 
who wore silk stockings in that country, at the 
marn.ice of his sister with the Duke of Savoy 
_ They are nevertheless said to have been worn 
in this country earlier, both by Henry VIII. and 
EduardVl. The latter was presented with a 
pair of long Spanish silk stockings by Sir Thomas 
Gresham 

Huwell relates in his " History of the World " 
thai Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her 
'ficn, 1561. was presented with a pair of black 
jtnil silk itockioKS by her silk.woman. Mrs. 
.viunlaeue. and thenceforth she never wore cloth 
ones any more. 



ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. 

Then and now. 

DEATH FROM IMAGINATION. 

Forests under the sea. 

RICHARD WHITTINCTON. 

Elwes the miser 

VAILS TO SERVANTS. 

The Earl of Leicester. 

ANCIENT LONDON. 

A fortnight at Brighton 

FOSSIL BACON 

A terrible time with a cobra. 

ARTIFICIAL MEMORY. 

Stones from the heavens. 

CHARLES FOX AS A GAMESTER. 

About horse racing. 

QUEEN CAROLINE. 

Living on nothing a year. 

RIGHT AND LEFT BOOTS. 

George III. at home. 

WHERE HE HID IT. 

An experimental dinner. 

JOKES. 



Interesting answers are inserted in the 
paper; others fio 'ny post. 



ORIGIN OF GROG 

Tke British sailors had always been accos- 
tomed to drink their allowaDce of brandy or rum 
clear, till Admiral Vernon ordered those under 
his command to mix it with water. The innova- 
tion gave great offence to tbe sailors, and, for a 
time, rendered the commander very unpopular 
among them. The Admiral, at that time, wore a 
grogran coat, for which reason they nicknamed 
him " Old Grog," etc., bence, by degrees, the 
mixed liquor he constrained them to, universally 
obtained among them the name of ' Grog,' 



HAIR POWDER. 



Hair powder was introduced by some ballad 
singers at the fair of St. Germains, in 1614. Ic 
the beginning of the reign of George I. only two 
ladies wore powder in their hair, and they were 
pointed at for their singularity And at the coro- 
nation of George II. there were only two hair- 
dressers in London. But in 1795,1! was calcu- 
lated that there were in the kingdom of Great 
Britain fifty thousand hairdressers ; and aup- 
posiug each of them to use one'pound of flour 10 a 
day, this upon an average amounted to 18,250,000 
pounds io a year, suf^ciect to make 5,314,280 
quartern loaves. 



ECCENTRIC CHARACTER. 

The Rev. Mr. Hagamore, of Calshoge, Leices- 
tershire, was a very singular character. He died 
the ist of January, 1776. possessed of the follow- 
ing effects, viz. — if7oo per annum, and £j,cxx) in 
money, which (he dying intestate) fell to a ticket- 
porter in London. He kept one servant of each 
sex, whom he locked up every night. His last 
employment of an evening was to go round his 
premises.^ let loose his dogs, and nre his gun. 
He tost his life as follows: Going one morning to 
let out his servants, the dogs fawned upon him 
suddenly, and threw him into a pond, where he 
was found breast high. His servants heard bis 
call for assistance, but being locked up could not 
lend him any. He had 30 gowns and cassocks, 
icHj pair of breeches, 100 pair of boots, 400 pair 
of shoes, 80 wigs (yet always wore bis own hair), 
58 dogs, 80 waggons and carts, 80 ploughs (and 
used none), 50 saddles, and furniture for the 
mlnagi, 30 wheelbarrows, so many walking-sticks 
that a toyman in Leicester Fields offered £S for 
them, 60 horses and mares, joo pickaxes, 200 
spades and shovels, 74 ladders, and 249 razors. 



Front page of the first Harmsworth paper 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 91 

ing Clock," " Hair Powder," " An Eccentric 
Character," " Silk Stockings," " Ancient 
London," " Fossil Bacon," " Right and Left 
Boots," "George the Third at Home," 
" Death from Imagination," " Forests under 
the Sea," " Artificial Memory," " Living on 
Nothing a Year," " A Terrible Time with a 
Tiger." 

The new paper failed to make an imme- 
diate hit, the sale of the first issue amount- 
ing to only 13,000 copies. Contrary to the 
expectations of its promoter, readers failed 
to send interesting questions to be answered, 
so that the original idea had to be abandoned. 
Realizing that he had been mistaken in his 
opinion concerning the British public's thirst 
for information, Harmsworth soon dropped 
the words " to Correspondents " from the 
title of his paper, leaving the word "An- 
swers." Then he decided to use matter 
similar to that which appeared in Tid-BitSj 
while introducing some new features. 

To save expenses the hard-working editor 
wrote most of the articles himself, and used 
matter from American newspapers to fill 
some of the pages. He also acted as his 
own circulation manager and personally 



92 NQRTHCLIFFE 

visited the principal news dealers to call tHeir 
attention to his paper. Still it moved very 
slowly, the monetary returns barely covering 
the cost of printing. 

Although he was an optimist from the 
start, there were times when Alfred Harms- 
worth must have had some gloomy moments. 
In spite of all his efforts, the circulation of 
the paper remained small, and advertising 
was difficult to get. All things considered, 
the chances of success were not encouraging. 
A young man with less faith, less patience, 
and less enthusiasm would have given up the 
task. 

During all those critical months, however, 
his mother never wavered in her belief in 
her son's genius. When nearly all his 
friends had lost confidence, she encouraged 
and inspired him, urging him to keep on and 
win success. Her judgment was excellent, 
and the young publisher relied upon her 
counsel. Abraham Lincoln once said : " All 
that I am, all that I ever hope to be, I owe 
to my mother." When he had conquered 
failure and achieved success, Alfred Harms- 
worth could say the same. 

But even while he was passing through 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 93 

this crisis, he never once lost his undaunted 
self-confidence and belief in the future. So 
great was his conviction that he would even- 
tually win out, that he married his fiancee, 
Miss Mary Elizabeth Milner. She was a 
typical English beauty of nineteen, highly 
talented and broadly educated. Her father, 
who lived at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, had 
business interests in the West Indies. After 
marriage, the youthful couple lived in a 
small, old-fashioned house in Hampstead. 

Young Mrs. Harmsworth, herself an opti- 
mist, was delighted at the courage with 
which her husband was making his fight 
for success, and her encouragement was at 
that time vitally important to him. She 
took an active part in his work and shared 
the struggles of the first year, going to the 
office every day to assist in reading manu- 
script, chpping newspapers, and typing the 
correspondence. Having unusually good 
powers of observation and possessing excel- 
lent judgment in literary matters, she was 
a great help, especially in giving hints con- 
cerning stories and articles that would inter- 
est women readers. 

In spite of much hard work and constant 



94, NORTHCLIFFE 

inspiration, however, Harmsworth was un- 
able to effect much increase in his paper's 
circulation. For this he was not to blame, 
because the best paper in the world cannot 
succeed without capital with which to adver- 
tise it, and capital was needed to make 
Answers sl success. As it was not forth- 
coming, the ingenious editor did what he 
could to advertise the paper himself. Among 
other plans that he devised, a letter in fac- 
simile handwriting was printed by thousands 
for distribution. It had the appearance of 
having been written by a young woman to 
a friend, and described the wonderful stories 
appearing in Answers. Men were hired to 
drop these letters in the letter boxes of 
private houses, mostly in London. The 
scheme had some success, and gained many 
readers. 

Just at this critical stage, when capital 
was so urgently required, an old family 
friend, a retired army officer, came to the 
rescue like the good genie in the " Arabian 
Nights." Having faith in Harmsworth's 
ability, he decided to back Answers to the 
extent of twenty-five thousand dollars. 

With this help the young publisher was 




Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth 

(In 1897) 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 95 

able to improve his paper by starting com- 
petitions and offering prizes as Newnes had 
done, while travehng readers were given the 
benefit of $5000 insurance. Among the first 
prizes were free trips to Paris. In spite of 
this, and the fact that the paper was well 
advertised, success was not achieved, and in 
June, 1889, one year after its first appear- 
ance, the weekly circulation was only 48,000. 

But the skill, judgment, and tenacity 
which have distinguished Lord Northcliffe 
in recent times were just as pronounced in 
the days when he was Alfred Harmsworth 
and was struggling to make his first success. 
He would not give up the fight; and for- 
tune, which ever favors the brave, at last 
bestowed her rewards. The story is soon 
told. 

In October, 1889, when the outlook 
seemed discouraging, the resolute editor 
evolved a brilliant idea which was destined 
to make Answers a success. He lost no time 
in putting it into operation. At the begin- 
ning of November all England was aston- 
ished by the appearance of huge posters in 
lurid colors, displayed on walls and fences, 
bearing the magic words: "£1 a Week for 



96 NORTHCLIFFE 

Life!" Harmsworth had offered the un- 
precedented prize of £1 a week for life to 
any person who made the nearest guess to 
the amount of money in the Bank of Eng- 
land on a certain date. He staked every- 
thing on the enterprise. 

At that time the buying power of £1 
($5) in England almost equaled that of $10 
in the United States. It was therefore a 
tempting offer. Each competitor was 
obliged to cut a coupon from Answers, and 
have it attested with the names and ad- 
dresses of four friends. The coupons were 
then forwarded to Answers' office for regis- 
tration. News of the competiton spread 
like wildfire, and its success was instanta- 
neous. At last the number of competitors 
reached the amazing total of 718,000, so 
that the paper, through the names on the 
coupons, was brought to the attention of 
between three and four million people. 
When seen, it was taken regularly by thou- 
sands. So great was the interest aroused 
that, day after day, the newspaper reports of 
the Bank of England's balances were dis- 
cussed on every side, while men in all ranks 
of life were caught in the excitement. 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 97 

The circulation of Answers now mounted 
upward at a rapid pace, and before long it 
had reached 200,000 a week. Advertising at 
high rates was thus easily obtained, and 
money literally poured into the publishing 
office. From barely paying expenses the 
paper, in a few months, was showing a profit 
at the rate of over $50,000 a year. Six 
years later the annual profits had leaped to 
$300,000. Alfred Harmsworth now realized 
that his dreams had come true, and that at 
last he was on the road to fortune. As to 
the competition, that was won by a soldier 
in the British army, who guessed within £2 
of the actual balance in the Bank of Eng- 
land. 

Answers had been started in the diminu- 
tive office of Carr & Co. in Paternoster 
Square, rented for $3 a week. As the paper 
became a big success through the competi- 
tion, it was necessary to rent offices in the 
next building to accommodate the clerks 
employed in checking coupons and otherwise 
coping with the large circulation. As soon 
as prosperity was assured, the enterprising 
pubhsher was joined by three of his brothers, 
Harold, Cecil, and Leicester, the first acting 



98 NORTHCLIFFE 

as business manager and the others assisting 
editorially. As head of the business depart- 
ment Harold Harmsworth showed remark- 
able ability, and helped to make the paper 
a still greater success. In fact, the rapid 
growth of the business was entirely due to 
Alfred Harmsworth's genius as an editor 
and an originator of ideas, coupled with his 
brother's business skill. The importance of 
the latter quahty may be understood from a 
brief explanation, which is essential at this 
point. 

In the United States, as is generally 
known, the subscription system is in common 
use among magazines, and the bulk of their 
circulation is obtained by this method. A 
yearly subscription is sent to the publisher 
and the magazine is mailed regularly. In 
towns and cities, of course, there are news 
dealers who sell the standard magazines, but 
even with that assistance, most of the cir- 
culation is obtained through readers who 
subscribe direct. The minor periodicals are 
entirely dependent on the subscription sys- 
tem. 

The subscription department of an impor- 
tant magazine is a highly organized and 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 99 

expensive part of the business. It requires 
much bookkeeping and correspondence, while 
the wrapping and maihng necessitates the 
employment of a large staff of girls — hun- 
dreds in some cases. Then comes the cost of 
postage, which is a heavy item. 

In Great Britain the system is entirely 
different. Owing to the small area of the 
United Kingdom, as explained in the first 
chapter, the people are all gathered com- 
pactly within a radius of a few hundred 
miles. Even in a village of any size there 
is usually a news dealer, while Smith & Sons 
have a news stand at every important rail- 
way station. The English people have thus 
become accustomed to buying their papers 
from a news dealer or ordering them through 
a news dealer instead of subscribing by the 
year. This does away almost completely 
with the subscription business, so that a 
magazine with a big circulation needs only 
a comparatively small staff. From this it 
can be understood why Answers could be 
published from a small office. 

A point of equal interest is that in Eng- 
land a periodical or newspaper can be made 
to pay on its circulation alone, regardless 



100 NORTHCLIFFE 

of advertising, while in this country adver- 
tising is essential. This is because of the 
lower cost of production and a cheap method 
of distribution. It may be added that while, 
in this country, the American News Com- 
pany has almost a monopoly as a distribut- 
ing agent, in England there are a large num- 
ber of wholesale dealers, all of whom are 
naturally interested in pushing the circula- 
tion of periodicals in order to increase their 
own profits as middlemen. This, of course, 
helps the pubUshers. 

It did not take Alfred Harmsworth long 
to grasp the fact that the future success of 
his business depended on buying cheap paper 
and keeping down the cost of production to 
the lowest point. In other words, he was to 
be in the position of a manufacturer of peri- 
odicals. He bought a certain quantity of 
white paper at 2^ cents a pound, and by 
editing and printing turned it into 200,000 
copies of Answers which retailed for two 
cents each. Eight copies of Answers 
weighed a pound, and while the white paper 
had cost only 2J4 cents these copies could be 
sold for sixteen cents. Even after the cost 
of production and the discount to wholesale 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 101 

)■ ■ 

dealers was deducted, a big profit was left. 
This principle eventually enabled the 
Harmsworth business to become the largest 
publishing business in the world. The whole 
fabric rested on the system of buying white 
paper cheaply and transforming it into 
copies of a periodical, the retail price of 
which yielded a large profit. Advertising 
was simply an additional bonus, and was not 
primarily essential. 

It was here that Harold Harmsworth's 
ability was displayed. He bought paper at 
the lowest market price, and superintended 
the cost of production so carefully that no 
waste occurred. As the business grew, his 
skill as the financial head became increas- 
ingly important. 

The success of Answers had become so 
great by the beginning of 1890 that larger 
quarters were needed for the editorial staff. 
Accordingly two floors were leased in a Fleet 
Street building. Soon after this move oc- 
curred, Harmsworth issued two comic papers 
for the masses, Chips and Comic Cuts, which 
had some resemblance to the comic supple- 
ments of American Sunday newspapers, ex- 
cepting that they were printed solely in black 



102 NORTHCLIFFE 

and white, and in addition to comic matter 
they contained exciting serial stories and 
some editorial chat. These papers sold for a 
halfpenny (one cent) each, and both were 
pushed by means of competitions. 

There was this essential difference, how- 
ever, about the Harmsworth comics, that 
whereas the American comic supplement 
leaves something to the intelligence of the 
reader, the Harmsworth papers did not. For 
instance, in a series of pictures conveying 
an obvious joke which, in America, would 
have required nothing more than an exclama- 
tion mark and an interrogation point, the 
same pictures in the English joke sheets 
would be accompanied by elaborate ana- 
lytical explanations. For instance, some 
comic pictures representing the adventures 
of a man and a bull would probably have 
required such an elementary diagnosis as the 
following: 

" The bull sees the man. What ho ! He chases 
him. Eh, what? Will he catch him? Just wait. 
Ah, the tourist prudently sprints for the nearest 
tree and shins up it like a streak of greased light- 
ning, while the baffled bull paws viciously below. 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 103 

Ha, ha! The man has the laugh this time. But 
how is he going to get out of the field? " etc., etc. 

Harmsworth was determined to drive the 
point of his illustrated jokes into the heads 
of his English readers with a hammer, if 
necessary. The plan was thoroughly suc- 
cessful, for the comics eventually gained 
huge circulations, the weekly issue of Comic 
Cuts exceeding half a million. Each paper 
helped to advertise the others. Answers call- 
ing attention to the comics, while the latter 
urged readers to buy Answers. This plan 
was adopted from the start and was con- 
tinued as the papers increased in number. 
At the end of 1890, Answers, which had been 
much improved, appeared in an orange- 
colored cover, and in this form it is still 
published. From the tint of its cover the 
paper was popularly termed " the golden 
one." It certainly proved to be golden for 
the Harmsworths. 

Among various competitions which were 
employed at this time, the "Answers Puz- 
zle " was introduced, and this alone netted 
a fortune. It consisted of a box about the 
size of a match box, containing small balls 



104 NORTHCLIFFE 

of different colors. The object of the puz- 
zle was achieved by shaking these in such a 
way that they would divide into appropriate 
colors and spell the word " Answers." This 
puzzle made as big a hit in England as the 
" 15 Puzzle " or the " Pigs in Clover Puz- 
zle " did in this country. Nearly a milUon 
were sold in a few weeks. There was a com- 
petition to see who could get the balls into 
position in the shortest space of time, and 
at least two hundred persons came from all 
parts of the United Kingdom to try for the 
handsome prizes offered. 

In the early days of Answers its enter- 
prising founder had paid almost the equiva- 
lent of a year's profits for a serial story by 
a famous author, and Fleet Street critics 
then declared that he was headed straight 
for ruin. Now that Answers was prosperous 
he caused further astonishment by paying 
the highest prices for articles and other con- 
tributions. This not only enabled the paper 
to obtain the best material, but the circula- 
tion of the report did much to increase its 
popularity. 

The success of the young publisher, his 
ability as an editor, and his ingenuity in 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 105 

bringing his papers to the attention of the 
public soon caused the name of Harmsworth 
to become well known. People of impor- 
tance began to take an interest in this bril- 
liant young man who was already amassing 
a large fortune, a fact which was not over- 
looked by the editors of London society 
journals. 

When his papers were well established, 
Alfred Harmsworth decided to become the 
owner of a home in the country where he 
could work and rest far removed from ex- 
citement. With this object, in 1891 he 
purchased an estate named Elmwood on the 
coast of Kent, about seventy miles from 
London, and not far from Broadstairs, a 
popular seaside resort. The house, a typical 
Enghsh mansion, over a century old, had 
been called Elmwood from a grove of an- 
cient elms that surrounded it. The grounds 
were extensive and had been attractively 
laid out. That the new owner of Elmwood 
was to be included among the local celebri- 
ties was attested by the county guide book, 
which in its next edition added the following 
passage in its ponderous, highly respectable 
style: 



106 NORTHCLIFFE 

" A notable feature of the village of St. Peter's 
is Elmwood, the seat of Alfred Harmsworth, Esq., 
who has done so much to improve the tone of our 
cheaper periodical literature." 

In September, 1891, the American news- 
paperman whose early impressions of Alfred 
Harmsworth were recorded in the preceding 
chapter, visited London after an interval of 
three years. In the meantime he had himself 
risen in the world, having become the editor 
of a New York magazine. A month's vaca- 
tion enabled him to cross the Atlantic again. 
Naturally he had a strong desire to learn 
how fortune had treated the optimistic pro- 
jector of Answers to Correspondents and 
its proposed adjunct, the inquiry bureau. 
Once more the newspaperman will tell his 

own story. 

* * * 

The day after I arrived in London I hap- 
pened to walk along Fleet Street, where I 
noticed a number of street hawkers selling 
a paper with an orange-colored cover bear- 
ing the significant title Answers, Although 
I had heard nothing from Harmsworth, I 
decided at once that this must be his paper^ 




o 
o 



w 






CO 

o 



3 
O 

>^ 

o 



s-i 



'^ 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 107 

and that judging by the way it was selling 
it had made a hit. In fact, a news dealer 
from whom I bought a copy told me that it 
was not only one of the best sellers among 
the penny papers but that its publisher had 
already cleared a fortune. The Answers 
offices were not far off, so I decided to call 
there. 

Alfred Harmsworth was in when I called, 
and I was given a cordial greeting. The 
three years that had passed since our last 
meeting had not made any appreciable 
change in his appearance. He was then 
twenty-six years old, looked as youthful as 
ever, and was as full of enthusiasm as in 
the days when we had discussed money-mak- 
ing schemes in the little office in Paternoster 
Square. 

Although Answers was going to press 
when I called, Harmsworth was perfectly 
cool and smiling; for while he was a born 
hustler, yet he never seemed to hustle. 
When I made a remark to that effect, he 
replied: " The reason is that I direct every- 
thing and leave the carrying out to others. 
The secret of success, I have already dis- 
covered, is to originate, direct, and scrutinize. 



108 NORTHCLIFFE 

but to do nothing which can be done just as 
well by assistants." 

From the start he had been a believer in 
young men, and even then it was noticeable 
that some of his sub-editors were scarcely 
more than boys. " Yes/' he said, when I 
mentioned this, " they are young; but young 
people know best what young people want, 
and a large number of the readers of our 
comic papers are young folks." 

Even on my first examination of Answers 
and the other papers which he showed to me, 
I could see that their success was largely 
due to the fact that he put his personality 
into them. He wrote a good deal of edi- 
torial chat, and each paper, from beginning 
to end, had a personal touch that made it 
different from rival publications. 

During my stay in England I accepted 
an invitation to spend a week at Elmwood. 
The old mansion had been furnished with 
rare taste, and it was in an ideal spot for a 
vacation. In a corner of the grounds, at 
some distance from the house, a frame 
bungalow, consisting of one large room, had 
been erected, which served as an editorial 
sanctum and working place. 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 109 

From the day of my arrival I was pressed 
into service, Harmsworth's secretary having 
gone away for a two weeks' vacation. Con- 
sequently there was a lot of manuscript to 
read, proof to revise, and letters to answer. 
" You'll have to work for your board," re- 
marked my host, in his usual breezy style. 
"As we haven't got a woodpile, you can 
read some proof." 

Most newspapermen, in spite of what they 
may say to the contrary, really enjoy talking 
shop, so I was glad to lend a hand as edi- 
torial assistant. Once more we worked to- 
gether and discussed publishing schemes. 
Again I was subjected to a volley of ques- 
tions regarding the progress of American 
magazines and newspapers. Incidentally, I 
was told the story of Answers^ success and 
what had taken place subsequently. 

Harmsworth's former partner, Carr, it ap- 
peared, had retired from the business in Lon- 
don, and had gone to live in Dublin, where 
he became the Irish agent for the Harms- 
worth publications. As the business in- 
creased this position yielded a large revenue. 
The army officer who had helped to back 
Answers at the start had sold out, receiving 



110 NORTHCLIFFE 

several times over the amount he had origi- 
nally invested. 

The success of Answers and the comic pa- 
pers, which were constantly increasing in 
circulation and yielding larger profits, only 
served to whet the ambition of their ener- 
getic founder. Harmsworth, in fact, had 
just begun to lay the foundations of what 
was destined to become the biggest publish- 
ing business in the world. His three broth- 
ers who assisted him were already deriving 
substantial returns from their interests. In- 
cidentally, I learned that several bright 
young men were being trained to take 
charge of new periodicals which were 
planned. So optimistic was Harmsworth in 
regard to the future, that on my return to 
New York I was appointed literary agent, 
for the purpose of keeping him closely in 
touch with American publishing develop- 
ments. 

* * * 

The progress of the Harmsworth business 
from 1891 onward was remarkable. It was 
in 1891 that its tireless promoter hit upon 
the idea of issuing two papers for young 
women, on entirely new lines. He called 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 111 

them Forget-Me-Not and Home-Sweet- 
Home. These papers, attractively designed 
and illustrated, were made up of interesting 
stories, fashion hints, answers to correspond- 
ents, advice to the lovelorn, etc., and were 
sold for a penny each. Some young women 
assisted in the editing and were trained in 
Harms worth methods. So successful were 
these papers that they soon had circulations 
of over 200,000 weekly. They were followed 
by Home Chat, a pretty little magazine for 
women, costing a penny, which repeated the 
success of the other papers and reached over 
250,000 readers. In this country such a 
pubhcation as Home Chat could not have 
been sold for two cents, owing to the higher 
cost of production. 

In those days the "penny dreadfuls" — 
the English equivalent of the American dime 
novel — sold largely among boys and un- 
doubtedly did much harm. Preachers de- 
nounced them in vain. Wouldn't it be pos- 
sible, Harmsworth thought, to destroy the 
popularity of the " dreadful " by providing 
something that would be as popular with 
boys, and yet would be without its unhealth- 
ful features? As the result of this idea, he 



112 NORTHCLIFFE 

started a weekly series of halfpenny stories 
for boys, tales of adventure, etc., which were 
issued under the title of the "Union Jack 
Library." These met with instant success. 
A hundred thousand English boys were soon 
reading them regularly. 

Other boys' papers, which sold for a 
penny, were next brought out, and these also 
became immensely popular. From the start 
these journals aimed at the encouragement 
of physical culture and patriotism, interest 
in travel and exploration, and pride in the 
British Empire. An outgrowth of this de- 
partment was the establishment of the Union 
Jack Club, which has a large membership in 
Great Britain and the British colonies. 

The success of the Harmsworths inevi- 
tably brought a number of additional rivals 
into the cheap-periodical field. Imitations 
of Answers continually appeared, the ma- 
jority of which were started by men with 
little or no experience and did not last long. 
Alfred Harmsworth, on the other hand, had 
behind him several years of hard, practical 
work in every branch of the periodical-pub- 
lishing business. Hardly one of the imita- 
tion papers survived more than a few 



SUCCESS AT TWENTY-FOUR 113 

months, in spite of insurance schemes, prize 
competitions, and other devices which were 
used to gain circulation. 

Among these new ventures, however, there 
was one success, the promoter of which was 
Cyril Arthur Pearson, a plodding, ambitious 
young man, who had been a free-lance 
writer and had afterwards held an important 
position in the office of George Newnes, the 
publisher of Tid-Bits. Pearson wanted to 
start a paper of his own, and enlisted the 
support of Sir Wilham Ingram, proprietor 
of the Illustrated London News, in whose 
office Harmsworth had gained his first maga- 
zine experience. 

In 1890, with the backing of Ingram, 
Pearson started Pearson's Weekly. His 
paper was on the same general lines as 
Answers J and to push it he employed vari- 
ous competitions and offered large prizes. 
Backed by ample capital, and well adver- 
tised, the paper soon gained a big circula- 
tion. Pearson adopted Harmsworth meth- 
ods from the start. When Answers was 
clothed with an orange-tinted cover, Pearson 
immediately arrayed his paper in a crimson 
cover. When the Harmsworths started 



114 NORTHCLIFFE 

comic papers, boys' papers, and women's 
papers, Pearson followed suit. 

Eventually he built up a large business 
and brought out some publications of a 
higher class, including the Royal Magazine 
and Pearson's Magazine, Although he 
cleared a fortune from his interest in the 
stock company which he organized, he was 
never a serious rival of the Harmsworths. 

In 1894 three firms practically controlled 
the cheap-periodical field in England — the 
Harmsworths, Newnes, and Pearson, and 
the Harmsworths were already in the lead. 



IV 
DEALING IN MILLIONS 

The youthful prophetic instincts of Al- 
fred Harmsworth did not prove false. " I 
mean to have the largest publishing business 
in the world some day," he had remarked to 
a friend in the jfirst years of Answers^ suc- 
cess, and now his ambition was in a fair way 
to be realized. 

The reward of all good work is not rest, 
but more work and harder work. At least, 
that was the case with Alfred Harmsworth. 
He had kept his mind fixed on the splendid 
things that he intended to do, and as the 
days slipped by he found himself either con- 
sciously or unconsciously seizing upon oppor- 
tunities that led to the fulfillment of his de- 
sires, just as the coral insect takes from the 
running tide the elements needed for its 
building. 

Success, indeed, seemed to be in the youth- 
ful publisher's blood. He was apparently 

115 



116 NORTHCLIFFE 

one of those men who are determined to 
march cheerfully forward, alert and alive to 
whatever opportunities are encountered, and 
thus able to turn them to profitable account. 

In 1894 the Harmsworth business had in- 
creased so rapidly that it was necessary to 
find larger quarters. Accordingly, an old- 
fashioned four-story building (24 Tudor 
Street) was purchased. The new home of 
the Harmsworth publications was just off 
Fleet Street — London's " newspaper row " 
— and therefore on historic ground. Within 
a stone's throw, in Gough Square, Dr. John- 
son compiled his famous dictionary and, sub- 
sequently, was often interviewed by the talk- 
ative Boswell. Interviewing by modern 
Boswells, however, was never tolerated by 
Alfred Harmsworth, who persistently 
avoided time wasters whose ability to talk 
exceeded their ability to work. 

Under its new owner, the old building 
was soon transformed into a modern-looking 
structure. It was renovated from top to 
bottom, painted a dazzling white, and sur- 
mounted with a huge sign, "Answers," in 
gilt letters. At the same time the Harms- 
worths decided to do their own printing. 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 117 

An adjacent building was leased, presses 
were installed, and in order to cope with the 
large circulation of the various papers it 
became necessary to employ day and night 
forces. The presses were constantly at 
work. 

Alfred Harmsworth's ofBce on the first 
floor, a small, artistically furnished sanctum, 
was at that time a favorite resort for writ- 
ers and magazine artists who had contribu- 
tions to offer. Among the former were 
several producers of fiction who afterwards 
became well known as novelists. Even then 
the energetic publisher was a conspicuous 
figure in London journalistic circles, and 
among the rank and file in Fleet Street he 
was familiarly referred to as " Alfred," or 
sometimes admiringly as "Alfred the 
Great." 

With the growth of the business the staff 
constantly increased, and at the same time 
Harmsworth began to rear a brood of under- 
studies to carry on his work. All his as- 
sistants were young men and women — the 
younger the better — capable of receiving im- 
pressions and at the same time ambitious and 
full of initiative. They were trained in what 



118 NORTHCLIFFE 

might be termed the " Harmsworth School 
of Journalism," and they gradually imbibed 
the style and spirit of their preceptor. They 
also became specialists. For instance, a 
young man would concentrate all his atten- 
tion on supplying matter for a boys' paper, 
another would edit a comic sheet, while still 
another would devote all his thoughts and 
energies to keeping Answers to the front. 

Young women were trained to write en- 
tertainingly for Home-Sweet-Home and 
other papers that appealed to feminine read- 
ers. Some of them became editors. They 
were encouraged, by means of attractive re- 
wards, to originate new ideas for making 
the papers more popular and to invent 
schemes for increasing circulation. 

Thus, in course of time, Alfred Harms- 
worth gathered about him a staff of highly 
specialized young editors and writers who 
gave such a distinct and personal tone to 
his publications that whenever a new paper 
was issued from 24 Tudor Street his increas- 
ing thousands of readers knew at once that it 
would have what they liked — the Harms- 
worth touch. 

From the start, the young publisher be- 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 119 

lieved in paying liberal wages to the members 
of his staff. Cheap men, he often declared, 
could take care of only cheap jobs, and he 
wanted no cheap men around him. Long 
before Henry Ford introduced the high- 
wage system in Detroit, Alfred Harmsworth 
had it in full operation in his London offices. 
He also adopted a system of profit sharing 
which is still unexampled in the publishing 
business in England or in any other country. 

Whenever he selected a man to take 
charge of one of his papers he agreed to 
pay him, in addition to a good salary, a 
liberal percentage on the circulation above 
a certain figure. If the circulation increased 
imder his management, he made money for 
himself and the firm; if he failed, he was 
soon replaced by a more capable man. 

The result was that the young men who 
conducted the Harmsworth papers took as 
much interest in the business as if it had 
been their own. In fact, the chief difficulty 
was to prevent them from overworking them- 
selves in their eagerness to become rich. 
There were no " clock watchers " in the 
Harmsworth offices, everybody was well sat- 
isfied, and even the sub-editors had monetary 



120 NORTHCLIFFE 

inducements to exert their energies and 
originate ideas. By this method of profit 
sharing Harmsworth transformed an able 
employee into a master, while the fact that 
the man had an interest in the business made 
it impossible for a rival publisher to get him 
away by offering a larger salary. This plan 
was continued and extended as the business 
grew, and it had much to do with the ulti- 
mate success of the firm. 

The rapidity with which new papers were 
originated and developed in the early days 
is strikingly shown in the case of the Harms- 
worth religious pubhcations. The story of 
how this branch of the business was estab- 
lished is interesting in many ways. It serves 
to show that Alfred Harmsworth was a thor- 
ough expert in the art of advertising. 

The first Harmsworth religious weekly, a 
paper of an entirely new type, called the 
Sunday Companion, appeared in 1894. 
Heralded by all the profuse and sensational 
publicity methods that had been used suc- 
cessfully in pushing the other papers, it at- 
tracted widespread notice and made a 
decided hit. The truth is that its ingenious 
promoter had discovered — long before Billy 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 121 

Sunday made the same discovery on this 
side of the Atlantic — that religion stands in 
as much need of advertising as any secular 
commodity. That is why illustrated posters 
of an unusually startling description were 
used in boosting the new weekly. One in 
particular, inscribed " In that Great and 
Terrible Day," depicted the dome of St. 
Paul's Cathedral surrounded by aircraft 
which were dropping bombs, while fire and 
devastation reigned below. 

This picture might have served as an illus- 
tration of what happened during the first 
year of the war, when Zeppelins actually 
dropped bombs within a few hundred yards 
of the Cathedral square. It was, moreover^ 
intentionally prophetic, as it used to adver- 
tise the fact that the Sunday Companion 
was making a feature of a blood-curdling 
story based on the Book of Daniel and 
Revelation, in which the horrors foreshadow- 
ing the end of the world were vividly de- 
scribed. 

Harmsworth's wonderful insight into the 
psychology of the masses was shown in start- 
ing this publication at a time when English 
religious papers were mostly uninteresting, 



122 NORTHCLIFFE 

their contents being made up of religious 
news, heavy sermons, and dreary articles. 
From his own investigation the sagacious 
publisher was convinced that thousands of 
Enghsh families were literally pining for 
some bright Sunday reading matter, and his 
new paper was designed to supply this want. 
The Sunday Companion was unsectarian, 
and it consisted of cleverly written illus- 
trated articles, short stories, and thrilling 
serials. The heroes of the serials were as a 
rule exponents of muscular Christianity. 

Like every master business man, Alfred 
Harmsworth had a positive genius in select- 
ing men, and this was plainly shown in his 
choice of a religious editor. The man se- 
lected for the position knew nothing what- 
ever of rehgious journalism, but he had 
shown great ability in conducting a popular 
weekly paper for Newnes, the publisher of 
Tid-Bits. He displayed equal talent as a 
producer of religious papers, and soon made 
a success of the Sunday Companion. 

Prize competitions with a decidedly reli- 
gious flavor were lavishly employed in adver- 
tising and increasing the circulation of the 
new weekly, large cash prizes being offered. 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 123 

In addition, the enterprising editor started 
an organization, somewhat on the hnes of the 
Christian Endeavor Society, which was called 
the Bible Band of Britain. Every member 
wore a celluloid badge with the initials " B. 
B. B.," and was pledged to fight pernicious 
literature, spread Bible truths, and inciden- 
tally make known the merits of the Sunday 
Companion, In course of time this organi- 
zation gained nearly 100,000 members. 
With the assistance of the Bible Band and 
various other methods of pubhcity, the Sun^ 
day Companion's circulation increased rap- 
idly. Three years after it was started it 
had over 350,000 readers, and the profits 
were fully $100,000 a year. Five other re- 
ligious weeklies, consisting of home papers 
and story magazines, were ultimately started 
and pushed in the same way, and all of them 
attained circulations of over 200,000 weekly. 
Aside from supplying the masses with 
wholesome reading matter for the home, the 
Harmsworth religious weeklies accomphshed 
a great deal of good in other directions. 
Atheistic attacks on religion that were flour- 
ishing in England at the time, were vigor- 
ously answered, and these answers were read 



124 NORTHCLIFFE 

and digested in the homes of the masses, 
many of whom had previously been un- 
reached by rehgious pubhcations. By means 
of prize competitions Sunday schools were 
helped, church-building funds were raised, 
and large numbers of religious workers were 
given free vacations in the summer time. 

The terrible condition of poor boys and 
girls in the slums of London, who were 
obhged to go barefooted and insufficiently 
clad in the bitter winter months, gave these 
papers another opportunity for charitable 
work. Appeals were made for clothing, 
boots, and stockings, and these poured into 
the Sunday Companion receiving station in 
such large quantities that the staff was un- 
able to cope with the details of checking and 
distribution. Eventually this department 
was transferred to the London City Mis- 
sions, which has since carried on the work. 

The skill of the versatile religious editor 
in devising circulation schemes attracted 
much attention in those days. On one occa- 
sion he obtained several tanks of water from 
the river Jordan, the fact that it came from 
the sacred river being certified by a British 
consul and some Turkish officials. A cut- 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 125 

glass flask filled with this water was pre- 
sented to any reader who bought a certain 
number of copies of the religious weekly 
which was being pushed, and who otherwise 
helped the paper. " Christen your Babies 
with Jordan Water " suggested the astute 
editor as the coupons poured in. " Earth 
from Bethlehem," " Gold, Frankincense, and 
Myrrh," and a weird musical instrument 
called the " Harp of David " were also used 
as premiums. 

Several children's magazines next made 
their appearance — illustrated penny papers, 
some of them containing colored pictures, 
and all of them so well adapted to the needs 
of English children that they were at once 
successful. Later on the Harmsworths en- 
tered the magazine field and issued the ZjOU- 
don Magazine, an English adaptation of the 
American ten-cent magazine, which was so 
popular from the start that it soon had a 
circulation of 50,000 a month. It was sold 
for sixpence (twelve cents). 

Another profitable branch of the business, 
subsequently started, was the educational 
department, which issued educational works 
for home instruction in bi-monthly parts, at 



126 NORTHCLIFFE 

sixpence a copy. At the end of the year 
cloth covers for binding were suppUed. 
Among the works issued in this manner was 
the " Harmsworth Self -Educator," which 
gave instruction in a large variety of arts, 
crafts, sciences, and languages. Then fol- 
lowed " Popular Science," a " History of the 
World," a " Natural History," the " Harms- 
worth Encyclopedia," and the " Children's 
Encyclopedia." The work last named, which 
was lavishly illustrated, contained interesting 
answers to hundreds of questions that a child 
would be likely to ask, covering a wide range 
of subjects. It had an unusually large sale 
in Great Britain and was afterwards revised 
and published in book form by a New York 
firm. The " part " system, it may be added, 
while successful in England, has never been 
popular in this country, the subscription 
book plan being preferred by the reading 
public. 

This brings us to another stage in the 
career of Alfred Harmsworth. In 1895, al- 
though scarcely seven years had passed since 
he had started his first paper in the small 
ofiice in Paternoster Square, his business 
had reached such large proportions that it 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 127 

already held the front rank in the English 
publishing world and defied all competition. 
At the age of thirty he had become a mil- 
lionaire, his wealth having continued to pile 
up so rapidly that it must have been a source 
of astonishment e -en to himself. 

The business, however, had not grown of 
its own accord. It had to be built up from 
the foundation and demanded foresight, en- 
terprise, energy, diplomacy, patience, perse- 
verance, and the most scrupulous fair deal- 
ing. At each stage of its development the 
editorial ability and originality of Alfred 
Harmsworth were strikingly displayed, to- 
gether with the skill of his brother Harold, 
who proved to be an ideal executive. In 
editorial matters Alfred hstened, weighed, 
sifted, sorted, and then decided, and when- 
ever his decision was made the case was 
closed. 

The rapid growth of the business had been 
largely brought about through the adoption 
of novel ideas, which members of the staff 
and others were encouraged to present. 
Whenever a scheme was submitted, with the 
declaration that it would make millions for 
the firm, the schemer was referred to Harold 



128 NORTHCLIFFE 

Harmsworth, who, with pencil and pad, soon 
found out whether it was a money maker. 
If there were possibiUties of its yielding a 
good profit, a liberal price was paid for it. 

A constant succession of new ideas put 
into practical operation by a highly organ- 
ized and efficient staff enabled the business 
to expand until the Harmsworth papers 
were taken by practically every member of 
the average British household, from mother, 
father, son, and daughter, down to the 
youngest reading child. Alfred Harms- 
worth became, in fact the universal periodi- 
cal provider. His publications catered to 
every taste. There were magazines that 
highly educated people could enjoy, and 
there were halfpenny comic sheets that would 
interest the most illiterate reader. 

In 1897 the firm of Harmsworth was 
recognized as one of the wealthiest and most 
successful publishing houses in England. In 
that year the business was organized as a 
stock company with a capital of £1,300,000 
(about $6,500,000). Alfred Harmsworth 
and his brothers retained a controlling inter- 
est in the new company, which was incorpo- 
rated as Harmsworth Brothers, Ltd. Some 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 129 

years later the company, with increased 
capital, was re-incorporated as the Amalga- 
mated Press, Ltd., and mider this title the 
business is conducted at the present time. 

When the company was originally incor- 
porated, the preferred and ordinary (com- 
mon) shares were offered at <£l ($5) each, 
and thousands of people, largely readers of 
the Harmsworth papers, became stockhold- 
ers. Since then, the ordinary shares have 
risen as high as $40 a share, and at the 
present time are selling somewhere near $25. 
Many of the original shareholders made for- 
tunes through the advance. Forty per cent 
annually has been regularly paid on the 
ordinary shares, and five per cent on the 
preferred. 

The continuous growth of this great pub- 
lishing enterprise has been evidenced by a 
corresponding increase in the size of the 
company's business quarters. In 1898 the 
editorial offices were moved to a large new 
building in Carmelite Street, near the 
Thames Embankment, now known as Car- 
mehte House. In 1912 this was replaced 
by a still larger building, Fleetway House, 
in Farringdon Street, which was erected at 



130 NORTHCLIFFE 

a cost of $675,000, and is said to be the finest 
editorial building in Europe. Since then it 
has been found necessary to lease offices in 
other buildings to accommodate the various 
offshoots of the business. 

The plant of the Amalgamated Press has 
developed into one of the largest printing 
establishments in the world, the small quar- 
ters in Tudor Street having been replaced, 
many years ago, by extensive works in 
Lavington Street, South London. Here are 
printed the fifty publications owned by the 
company. Some years since, it was found 
that economy could be effected by making 
ink, and the company started an ink factory. 

A still more important development oc- 
curred in 1902, when the far-sighted found- 
ers of the business decided to make their 
own paper. At that time the Amalgamated 
Press was buying more paper than any other 
pubhshing house in the world, and it was not 
considered a good policy to allow the supply 
of raw material to be controlled by outside 
sources. Although the initial expense was 
great, future requirements made it essential 
for the company to control a supply of wood 
pulp, and thus insure a constant stock of 




Fleetway House 

Editorial and business offices of the Amalgamated Press 

Courtesy of MacmiUan Co. 



IS 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 131 

cheap paper, by establishing a paper milL 
With this object a thorough investigation 
of timber properties in Canada was made, 
and after expert advice on the subject had 
been received, a tract of pine timber land, 
embracing about 3400 square miles, was 
purchased in Newfoundland, the oldest of 
the British colonies. Here, in 1906, one of 
the largest pulp and paper making plants in 
the world was completed, at a cost of over 
$6,000,000. 

The plant includes two private railways, 
steamers which carry the stock to England, 
and trunk telephone lines of over 100 miles 
in length. In the course of a year 1,500,- 
000 trees are felled and 4,500,000 logs are 
driven down the river. Running full time, 
the paper-making machines can turn out 200 
tons of paper every day. They are among 
the largest paper-making machines in exist- 
ence. Sixty thousand tons of paper are 
made every year, besides 25,000 tons of pulp. 
More than 2500 tons of paper and between 
1000 and 2000 tons of pulp are shipped to 
England every three weeks. 

The power for the mill is supplied by the 
great falls of the Exploits River, which flow 



132 NORTHCLIFFE 

for nearly half a mile over a series of de- 
clivities. The fall is 120 feet. At the 
highest point a solid concrete dam, 882 feet 
long, has been built, making possible the 
generation of 2500 horse power. The paper 
business has been incorporated as a separate 
company, the Newfoundland Development 
Company, Ltd., with a capital stock of 
$7,000,000 in $5 shares. The Amalgamated 
Press, Ltd., and the Associated Newspapers, 
Ltd. — the latter an associated company — 
— are heavily interested. 

At Botwoodville, in northern Newfound- 
land, the paper company has a port, whence 
the paper is shipped to England. The com- 
pany employs nearly 2000 workmen, and 
three communities peopled by them and their 
famihes have sprung up in what was re- 
cently a primeval forest. Of these the prin- 
cipal one, Grand Falls, with a population of 
3000, has become the second town of im- 
portance in Newfoundland. A flourishing, 
up-to-date place, it is supplied with well- 
paved streets, electric lights, churches, 
schools, a public library, a bank, a theatre, 
"movies," and all the other adjuncts of 
civilized life. No expense has been spared 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 133 

in making the dwellings of the workers as 
comfortable as possible, and well-designed 
houses have also been erected for members 
of the staff. 

Only newspaper stock is manufactured in 
Newfoundland; the finer grades of paper are 
made at Gravesend, about thirty miles from 
London. There the companies interested 
have erected the Imperial Paper Mills, cov- 
ering seventeen acres and constituting one 
of the largest paper mills in the world. Pulp 
from Newfoundland is transferred from the 
steamer to the mill, which faces the Thames. 
Large motor trucks, capable of hauling sev- 
eral tons, convey the paper from the mill to 
the printing works. 

It may be added that the Newfoundland 
company has proved a highly profitable 
enterprise. A year or so before the war, 
when business was normal, the Amalgamated 
Press received about $250,000 as its share 
of the annual profits. At that time the 
yearly profits of the Amalgamated Press 
amounted to £263,283 (about $1,315,000), 
dividends of forty per cent were paid on the 
common stock, while £25,000 ($125,000) 
additional was added to the reserve fund. 



134 NORTHCLIFFE 

In spite of the war, which caused a short- 
age of print paper and thus had a deterrent 
effect on the publishing business, the prog- 
ress of the Amalgamated Press has been 
highly satisfactory. New magazines, appeal- 
ing to a great variety of readers, have been 
brought out from time to time, and all have 
proved to be money makers. As in former 
times, no expense has been spared in keep- 
ing all the papers to the front by means of 
prize competitions and other devices. Cir- 
culation experts are constantly traveling 
about the United Kingdom, investigating 
conditions and ascertaining demands in the 
shape of reading matter. On the mechanical 
side, every novelty of merit is carefully 
scrutinized. Men travel in all progressive 
countries to obtain fresh ideas for the com- 
pany. While it is gratifying to have built 
up the greatest periodical business in the 
world, those responsible for the welfare of 
the Amalgamated Press fully realize that 
even the greatest success can be maintained 
only by constant watchfulness. 

Some idea of the work entailed in print- 
ing the fifty publications of the Amalga- 
mated Press may be gathered from the 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 135 

following facts extracted from the company's 
souvenir book: 

Fifteen million words are checked in the course 
of a year by the reading department. 

The number of letters cast by the linotype and 
monotype machines in the course of a year is 
700,000,000. 

If all the pages of the publications printed dur- 
ing a year were placed side by side to make a con- 
tinuous strip, the length of the strip would be 
nearly a million miles. 

Twelve million inches of cuts are made by the 
photo-engraving department in the course of a 
year. 

The paper bill amounts to $5000 a day. 

At the present time at least 50,000 news 
dealers handle the fifty publications of the 
Amalgamated Press, which have grown out 
of the little weekly paper. Answers j which 
Alfred Harmsworth started so unpreten- 
tiously less than thirty years ago. The 
weekly publications alone have a circula- 
tion of eight milhons, while the monthly 
magazines have large and increasing circula- 
tions. 

In recent years the name Harmsworth 



136 NORTHCLIFFE 

has been almost entirely dropped in connec- 
tion with the business, while the Amalga- 
mated Press has become increasingly promi- 
nent as the publisher of what were formerly 
called the Harmsworth publications. It 
should be stated, however, that the founder 
of this great periodical company, who be- 
came Lord Northcliffe in 1906, has con- 
tinued to take a deep interest in its progress. 

The circulation of the publications of the 
Amalgamated Press is not confined to Great 
Britain, but extends to Australia, Canada, 
South Africa, India, and other parts of the 
British Empire. As in the early days. Lord 
Northchffe still uses his influence in keep- 
ing these periodicals intensely British in tone, 
appearance, and make-up, and this largely 
contributes to their success. 

Here it may be remarked that in spite 
of the close relationship that exists between 
the United States and Great Britain and the 
fact that the two countries speak the same 
language, their taste in reading matter is 
widely different. Lord Northcliffe knows 
that his papers would not succeed in the 
United States, and he also knows that 
American papers would have no success in 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 137 

England. With few exceptions American 
publications have failed when introduced 
there. Even American advertising matter 
cannot be used in England without consider- 
able revision. British and American national 
temperaments, in short, are so diverse that 
what makes an instantaneous hit in one 
country falls flat in the other. This may 
be a cause of surprise when it is remem- 
bered that the works of such American writ- 
ers as Mark Twain and Bret Harte are as 
firmly enthroned in England as in this coun- 
try; but the explanation undoubtedly is that 
their appeal is not merely national but inter- 
national. 

The Amalgamated Press still adheres to 
the plan adopted in the days of Harmsworth 
Brothers, of employing young men and 
women — almost youths and girls, in some 
cases — to edit certain papers. In this way is 
carried out the original idea of the founder^ 
that young people know best what young 
people want. The directors, it may be added, 
are all employees of the company, and are 
thus able to conduct the business in a prac- 
tical and thoroughly efficient manner. 

The profit-sharing plan, which produced 



138 NORTHCLIFFE 

such excellent results in the early days, is 
still continued, and the head of each depart- 
ment profits as his department grows. A 
system of pensions has also been established, 
so that old or ailing employees who retire 
from the business, after faithful service, may 
be suitably provided for. At the present 
time the pension fund amounts to over $300,» 
000, and it is constantly growing larger. 

A believer in high wages and the principle 
that the efficient laborer is worthy of his hire. 
Lord Northcliffe has caused the workers in 
many departments of the Amalgamated 
Press to be paid much above the market 
price. This enables the company to obtain 
the highest skill. Not long ago a London 
printing firm complained that the Amalga- 
mated Press had secured the pick of the 
printing trade by means of "extravagant" 
wages paid to compositors and pressmen. 

To get the best work out of people Lord 
Northcliffe believes that rest and recreation 
are essential. With this object in view, the 
offices of the Amalgamated Press are closed 
at six o'clock every Friday evening and are 
not opened until business hours on Monday 
morning. At present nearly 3000 persons 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 139 

are employed in the editorial, business, and 
printing departments. Prior to the war the 
employees had formed a militia regiment. 
They had also two bands, and cricket, foot- 
ball, and golf clubs, as well as various social 
organizations. 

Although an ardent believer in hard work. 
Lord Northcliffe is a strong advocate of 
vacations. The heads of departments are 
therefore obhged to take an occasional holi- 
day, preferably out of England, in order to 
get a change of scene and interest. North- 
chffe himself plays the game of business for 
all that is in it, but while he exacts the same 
toll from his employees he also realizes that 
the best results are obtained from men in 
good condition, and it is his constant en- 
deavor to keep all his workers mentally and 
physically fit. 

Unique among millionaire publishers. 
Lord Northchffe has raised a goodly brood 
of wealthy men among his helpers, and has 
followed the example of Andrew Carnegie 
by sharing a part of his riches with those 
who assisted him in building up his great 
business. His brother Harold, the financial 
genius, whose skill as a business manager 



140 NORTHCLIFFE 

largely contributed toward the transforma- 
tion of a small enterprise into what has be- 
come the gigantic Amalgamated Press, is 
now a multi-millionaire himself. A few 
years ago he was raised to the peerage with 
the title of Lord Rothermere. Two other 
brothers, Cecil and Leicester, ceased to take 
an active part in the business some years be- 
fore the incorporation of the Amalgamated 
Press, but have derived large fortunes from 
their interests in the company. Both are 
now Members of Parliament, and are promi- 
nently identified with English political life. 
Three younger brothers who were also ex- 
tensive shareholders, were placed in posses- 
sion of big incomes. 

Some of the young men who became con- 
nected with the business in the early days 
and grew up with it earned from ten to 
twenty thousand dollars a year in editorial 
positions. Several left the firm with a hun- 
dred thousand dollars or more. One mem- 
ber of the staff, who entered the business in 
1895 at a salary of $15 a week, was eventu- 
ally promoted until he became editor-in- 
chief of Answers and other papers, his salary 
and commissions amounting to $50,000 a 



DEALING IN MILLIONS 141 

year. Some years ago, when a change was 
made in the management, he accepted half 
a miUion dollars to cancel his contract. The 
only member of the original staff still con- 
nected with the company is George A. Sut- 
ton, who began his career as a stenographer, 
afterwards became secretary to Lord North- 
cliffe, and is now general manager of the 
Amalgamated Press. He is said to receive a 
larger salary than that of the President of 
the United States. 

Thus ends the story of the periodical busi- 
ness of Alfred Harmsworth, started in so 
small a way and transformed, through his 
genius, into a vast industry. Even the wild- 
est dreams of his youth were more than 
realized when he became the head of the 
greatest publishing business in the world, 
founder of one of the largest paper-making 
companies, and a Croesus in point of wealth. 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 

In presenting the story of Lord Northcliffe the 
facts concerning his periodical business and his 
newspapers have been kept apart, for the reason 
that his activities in these fields of endeavor form 
distinct phases of his career. The two depart- 
ments, moreover, have always been kept separate^ 
and are managed by different companies. There- 
fore, an account of how he became the world's fore- 
most newspaper owner has been given in the three 
following chapters, each of which forms a special 
narrative. 



From the time that he started out as a 
journalist, Alfred Harmsworth had been 
inspired with the ambition to own and edit 
an important London newspaper. He had 
kept that goal in view, and was determined 
not to be satisfied until he had reached it. 
Visionary as this idea might have seemed 
when he was struggling to earn his living as 
a free-lance writer, nevertheless his ambition 

142 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 143 

was destined to be realized while he was still 
youthful. 

The career of Alfred Harmsworth had 
proved, even then, that to the man with see- 
ing eyes and well-trained mind opportunity 
comes, not once, but many times in a life- 
time. Therefore, when the goddess of op- 
portunity sought for a purchaser for the 
London Evening News she went straight to 
the door of the young publisher at 24 Tudor 
Street. 

In October, 1894, when he was twenty- 
nine years of age and had established his 
periodical business so successfully that it 
had already brought him a fortune, Alfred 
Harmsworth astonished London by announc- 
ing that he had bought the Evening News. 
The manner in which he became owner of 
this newspaper formed another remarkable 
incident in his eventful hfe, and it also con- 
tained certain elements of the picturesque 
which, it has been said, should form the 
background of every great business. 

The Evening News had been started in 
London in 1881 to support the Conservative 
party, but had never been a success. Al- 
though money had been lavished on the 



lU NORTHCLIFFE 

paper, and the Conservatives had dug into 
their pockets to the extent of over two mil- 
lion dollars in their efforts to bolster it up, 
the unfortunate sheet had gone from bad 
to worse. It was badly edited, changes of 
management were frequent, and in 1894 the 
circulation was racing toward the zero point. 
Facing a big deficit, the directors of the 
stock company which owned the paper be- 
came thoroughly dissatisfied, and at last de- 
cided to sell out. 

Just at that time there happened to be a 
shrewd young Scotchman named Kennedy 
Jones employed as a reporter on the London 
Evening Sun, then owned by T. P. O'Con- 
nor, M.P. Opportunity knocked at his door 
also, as the sequel will show. 

A native of Glasgow, Jones was a husky, 
alert, clean-shaven young man with a slight 
Scottish accent, who had gained his first 
newspaper experience in Edinburgh and 
Manchester. Later on, with a wife and an 
increasing family, he had migrated to Lon- 
don, where he soon made a name as a re- 
porter, particularly in the line of sporting 
news. " K.J.," as he was popularly termed, 
knew everybody about town, especially at 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 145 

the music halls and race tracks. He was a 
born hustler for news, and his beats were 
innumerable. Although his salary on the 
Sun was only twenty-five dollars a week, he 
had started life with an abnormal supply of 
energy, ambition, and grit, the qualities 
which enable a man to overcome all diffi- 
culties and even to rise above an unfavorable 
environment in achieving success. 

In his youthful days Jones had bought 
groceries from an enterprising storekeeper 
in Glasgow named Lipton, who was 
strangely ambitious. This man, Lipton, 
continually surprised the lad by declaring 
that he meant to become a millionaire, which 
inspired him to become ambitious also. 
Eventually, when the ambitious grocer de- 
veloped into a multimillionaire and became 
Sir Thomas Lipton, head of one of the great- 
est businesses in the world, Jones was con- 
vinced, more than ever, that there was some- 
thing in ambition. 

When, therefore, Jones the reporter hap- 
pened to hear one day that the ill-fated 
Evening News was for sale, and recalled 
that it was Alfred Harmsworth's ambition to 
become a newspaper owner, he realized that 



146 NORTHCLIFFE 

he was facing the great opportunity of his 
life. What followed would be impossible to- 
day in either London or New York, but it 
happened in London in 1894. 

With nothing but an astonishing amount 
of self-assurance, Jones called on the direc- 
tors of the Evening News and told them 
that if they would give him an option on the 
paper for one week he would find a pur- 
chaser for it. His manner was so convincing 
that the directors, ready to clutch at any 
hope of even a partial salvage, actually 
came to terms, and Jones walked away with 
his option. Here is the rest of the story, 
as it was related some years later by Jones 
himself to an intimate friend: 

"When I had obtained the option, the 
next thing was to interview Alfred Harms- 
worth. At that time I was a hard-working, 
hustling reporter, and was not particularly 
well dressed or impressive in appearance. 
Accordingly, I decided to send a deputy to 
24 Tudor Street, and for this purpose 
selected my friend, Louis Tracy, the novel- 
ist, who was then writing stories for the 
Evening Sun. Unlike myself, Tracy always 
looked impressive, and wore the conventional 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 147 

frock coat and silk hat which then distin- 
guished the soHd citizen of London. When 
I broached the subject to him and promised 
him a share in the enterprise, he agreed to 
assist me in putting through the deal. With 
this object he went round to Answers' office 
at once, and submitted the offer to Alfred 
Harmsworth, who was favorably impressed, 
although he seemed to suspect that Tracy 
had not originated the idea. 

" * Is this your own scheme, Mr. Tracy? ' 
he asked. Tracy explained that it was I 
that had obtained the option. 'Then,' re- 
phed Alfred Harmsworth, ' Jones is the man 
I want to see.' The result was that I called 
at 24 Tudor Street myself, and after some 
consultation with Alfred and Harold 
Harmsworth, a meeting was arranged with 
the directors of the Evening News. The 
books were examined, the plant was in- 
spected, and ultimately the paper was bought 
by the Harmsworths for £25,000 ($125,- 
000)." 

Having acquired the paper, Alfred 
Harmsworth saw that Jones, who not only 
was a journalist of wide experience but had 
proved that he was original and enterpris- 



148 NORTHCLIFFE 

ing, was just the sort of man to edit and 
manage it. So, from twenty-five dollars a 
week as a reporter, Jones stepped into the 
position of managing editor of the Evening 
News at a salary of five thousand dollars a 
year, with an eighth interest in the paper as 
well. Mr. Tracy also received liberal com- 
pensation for his assistance in arranging the 
affair. 

At first sight, the Evening News, as a 
property, looked far from promising. The 
offices were in an antiquated building in 
Whitefriars Street, the presses were old and 
worn, and about the whole establishment 
there was that atmosphere of decay which 
pervades decrepit businesses as well as senile 
human beings. When, therefore, it became 
known in Fleet Street that Alfred Harms- 
worth had bought this unlucky paper, men 
shook their heads and declared that he had 
been " bimcoed." In fact, Harold Harms- 
worth, who accompanied his brother and 
Kennedy Jones on their first visit to their 
new property, laughingly remarked to an 
acquaintance they met : " We are on our way 
to see our gold brick, and," indicating Jones, 
" there is the man who planted it on us." 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 149 

In building up and transforming the Eve-^ 
ning News, however, Alfred Harmsworth 
displayed the same tireless energy that he 
had shown in making a fortune out of his 
periodicals. He went to the office every day 
and worked there until late at night, sug- 
gesting new features and introducing novel- 
ties, his intensely practical and businesslike 
mind sifting every detail and intuitively 
separating the relative from the inconse- 
quential. 

Jones, with his wide experience in every 
branch of newspaper work, now proved to be 
invaluable. He knew what the masses 
wanted, and also the weak spots of the old- 
fashioned evening newspapers. He em- 
ployed the best men for the sporting depart- 
ment, with the result that the racing, foot- 
ball, and cricket reports, which make or mar 
an evening paper in London, soon put the 
Evening News in the lead. 

Within a few weeks, by effectively admin- 
istering his own brand of the elixir of life 
to the tottering paper, Harmsworth revital- 
ized it and made it a money maker. With 
its smart headUnes, snappy news stories, 
bright special articles, women's column, joke 



i 



J 



150 NORTHCLIFFE 

column, serial fiction, and other features, the 
modernized Evening News became the talk 
of the town, and by the end of the first year 
it had not only repaid the original invest- 
ment, but was in a position to pay six per 
cent on its shares. At the present time the 
circulation is over a million daily. 

With all its brilHant success, however, the 
Evening News was, for Alfred Harmsworth, 
merely in the nature of a trial horse in daily 
journaUsm. It was an experiment or, as a 
miner would term it, a prospect in the do- 
main of newspaperdom. There was still the 
same craving of the masses for a bright 
morning newspaper to be satisfied. Con- 
vinced by the success of the Evening NewSj 
in a single year, that he had struck a mine 
of virgin gold, the far-seeing young publisher 
decided to start what had long been in his 
mind, a morning paper conducted on entirely 
new lines. 

In America we have come into an era 
when the afternoon newspaper is the swift, 
rapid-fire distributer of news, with a follow- 
ing that constantly increases, but in Eng- 
land the morning paper still remains the 
heavy gun. Alfred Harmsworth was well 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 151 

aware of the latter fact when, in the spring 
of 1896, he prepared to launch his new 
daily, and invested over two and a half 
million dollars in the enterprise. 

With his characteristic thoroughness, he 
made sure that the machinery of organiza- 
tion would be in working order on the day 
of pubhcation by having the paper issued 
daily, for private examination, during a 
period of three months. Although not a 
single copy of the paper was circulated, 
every issue was subjected to the same rigor- 
ous criticism that it would have received had 
it already been placed in the hands of the 
pubhc. In those three months Alfred 
Harmsworth was appraising material, sound- 
ing tendencies, examining, changing, improv- 
ing, criticizing, and gathering a staff of the 
ablest and most progressive newspaper men 
that he could find. 

When at last, one morning in May, 1896, 
the new morning paper, the Daily Mail, was 
presented to the British public, it had a real 
individuality which could be summed up only 
in that comprehensive phrase, the Harms- 
worth touch. It was, moreover, the first 
morning paper to be issued in Great Britain 



152 NORTHCLIFFE 

for a halfpenny, or one cent. The price was 
a radical departure, but one which made an 
instant appeal to the masses, as its founder 
had expected. Not only was the style and 
appearance of the new daily entirely different 
from that of the other morning papers, but 
the whole spirit of the newcomer was thor- 
oughly in accordance with modern ideas. 
Widely advertised, as it had been, through 
the Harmsworth weekly periodicals, the 
Daily Mail proved an immediate success. 
It started on its wonderful career with a cir- 
culation of over a quarter of a million. 

The lines on which the new daily was man- 
aged, as well as the novelty of its appear- 
ance, caused much astonishment among the 
editors of the old-fashioned London dailies, 
the majority of whom lived in antiquated 
seclusion, their intercourse with members of 
their staffs being usually conducted by let- 
ter. In some cases, if a reporter did not 
receive an assignment by the first mail in 
the morning he was not expected to go to 
the office. 

( To these editors of the old school the mere 
{suggestion of liveliness in a newspaper was 

anathema. From the normal, everyday in- 

\ 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 153 

terests of average men and women they stood 
far apart. Enterprise was considered by them 
the deadUest of sins. They ignored the en- 
tire change in the educational system of Eng- 
land that had taken place with the estab- 
lishment of a public school system, and the 
development of a new generation of thinking 
masses, while they also failed to notice the 
progress that had been made in the indus- 
trial and economic life of llie nation. Not 
only were the venerable and highly respect- 
able newspapers which they edited ponderous 
in tone, but they contained, day after day, 
profound essays on foreign topics, scientific 
papers which nobody but a scientific man 
could understand, and editorials of four thou- 
sand words or more on high politics. There- 
fore it is not surprising that their aggregate 
circulation was small. 

Into this antiquated, easy-going, compla- 
cent journalistic world, the Daily Mail sud- 
denly burst with all the force of a high- 
explosive shell. In marked contrast with the 
conventional English newspaper methods, 
Alfred Harmsworth and his editors kept 
themselves in personal touch with the mem- 
bers of the staff, watched their work, and 



154 NORTHCLIFFB 

drilled them into a high degree of efficiencyo 
The system adopted was, in fact^ much the 
same as that which is followed in any well- 
regulated American newspaper officCo 

Compact in size — a pigmy compared with 
the blanket sheets of the other London 
dailies, and smaller than any of the New 
York papers — the Daily Mail consisted of 
eight pages, the news being condensed into 
the smallest space so that it could be read 
quickly. The fourth page was devoted to 
short editorials and special articles. On the 
sixth page were magazine features and a 
serial story. 

The British public liked the new paper. 
It was a success from the start, and in less 
than a year its circulation was over three 
hundred thousand. By the end of the sec- 
ond year this had increased to half a million, 
and during the Boer War, in 190Q, it reached 
the million mark. At present the normal 
circulation is somewhere about 1,500,000. 

An examination of the early numbers of 
the Daily Mail shows, curiously enough, that 
the paper, from an American point of view^ 
was quite conventional in almost everything 
except its condensed news and the introduc- 




Alfred Harmsworth in 1897 

Reading his newspaper, the Daily Mail 



/ 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 155 

tion of some new features. The truth is that 
Alfred Harmsworth, above all else, was 
afraid of alarming the British public, which, 
as he knew, objected to being Americanized. 
Suspicions were allayed by the conventional 
appearance of the new paper. Once sure of 
a steadily increasing circulation, however, 
the discerning publisher began to brighten 
his paper. Additional novelties were intro- 
duced, headlines were given more " punch," 
editorials were cut down, and signed articles 
on popular subjects appeared on the fourth 
page. For breadth of interest nothing has 
ever equaled these articles, which cover a 
wide variety of topics and from the start 
have constantly maintained a high standard 
of authority and distinction. 

From the outset the motto for Daily Mail 
representatives was : " Get the news and get 
it first." No effort or expense was spared 
in hving up to this commandment. Eminent 
writers and correspondents, at high salaries, 
were sent to all parts of the world in which 
events of importance were occurring. 
Shortly after the paper was started, for ex- 
ample, the late George W. Steevens was 
sent with General Kitchener's army to Khar- 



156 NORTHCLIFFE 

toum, where Gordon was avenged and the 
Khalifa's power in the Sudan was shattered. 

When the South African War broke out 
in 1889, the magnificent organization which 
Harmsworth had established enabled the 
Daily Mail to get ahead of the British gov- 
ernment in respect to news from the front, 
and the War Department was often obliged 
to acknowledge the receipt of information 
supplied by the enterprising paper. 

It was during the Boer War that the 
Daily Mail proved itself to be unrivaled as 
a money raiser. Upon the purchase by the 
paper of " The Absent-Minded Beggar " by 
Rudyard Kipling, this famous poem was 
published in pamphlet form and also set to 
music. The proceeds of copyright fees and 
incidental contributions, which eventually 
amounted to five hundred thousand dollars, 
were expended in providing ambulances and 
comforts for soldiers, while the surplus that 
remained was large enough to cover the cost 
of building a hospital for wounded veterans. 

Possessing a remarkable news sense, Al- 
fred Harmsworth always grasped the pos- 
sibilities of a big story with the quickness 
that characterizes the born newspaperman, 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 157 

and like a " star " reporter he delighted in 
going after an important story himself. 

In the early days of the Daily Mail he 
added greatly to the reputation of the paper 
by two important beats. One was an inter- 
view that he obtained with the late Cecil 
Rhodes regarding the situation in South 
Africa preceding the Boer War. The " Co- 
lossus of South Africa," as Rhodes was 
popularly termed, had persistently refused to 
be interviewed, but the enterprising owner of 
the Daily Mail managed to see him and laid 
the case frankly before him. " I have just 
started a morning paper, Mr. Rhodes," he 
said, " and to present your own story to the 
public, fully and correctly, would be a great 
advantage to you and would be a great 
achievement for me." Rhodes was so much 
impressed by the grit of the youthful pub- 
lisher that he forthwith gave him a full and 
exclusive story which made a great sensation 
in England and was published throughout 
the world. 

Later on, when the Conservative govern- 
ment was getting shaky and all sorts of 
rumors were afloat, Alfred Harmsworth 
again acted as a reporter, and scored another 



158 NORTHCLIFFE 

beat through interviewing Arthur James 
Balfour, then British prime minister, and 
obtaining from that statesman the first news 
of his resignation, the downfall of the Con- 
servative government, and the plans for a 
general election. 

Even in these days, as Lord Northcliffe, 
the famous journalist still preserves the 
reportorial habit, and in situations of great 
importance he has occasionally acted as his 
own reporter. For instance, during the 
Home Rule agitation in Ireland in 1914 he 
made a first-hand study of the problem in 
Ulster and interviewed the leaders on both 
sides. Since the present war began he has 
on several occasions visited the front. 

From the beginning American news was 
featured conspicuously in the Daily Mail. 
An ofiice was opened in New York, with an 
experienced correspondent in charge, and 
direct cable communication with the London 
office was established. Before that time the 
London newspapers had seldom printed 
more than an occasional paragraph of Amer- 
ican news, usually obtained from Renter's 
Agency and headed "American Intelli- 
gence." The Daily Mail began to pubhsh 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 159 

items of popular interest cabled from New 
York and sometimes devoted a colimin or 
more to accounts of sensational murder 
trials, fashionable weddings, new inventions, 
and social movements of a novel char- 
acter. 

During the McKinley-Bryan campaign 
in 1896 two or three columns daily were 
cabled to the paper, and at that time George 
W. Steevens wrote a series of articles en- 
titled " The Land of the Dollar." This es- 
tablished a precedent for American election 
news, which, since then, has been allotted a 
large amount of space in the Daily Mail. 
A special news service was maintained dur- 
ing the Spanish- American war in 1898, when 
Charles E. Hands was sent to Cuba with 
the American army. In recent years the 
paper has made a feature of direct Wash- 
ington news. 

Aroused by the competition of the Daily 
Mailj the managements of the other London 
daihes began to change their business meth- 
ods. A more up-to-date appearance was 
given to these older papers, and their pres- 
entation of news was improved. Some of 
them opened New York offices and competed 



160 NORTHCLIFFE 

> ——————— ^— II — — — I 

with American news, so that in course of 
time the British pubKc was made more fa- 
miliar with American affairs, to the manifest 
advantage of Great Britain and the United 
States. 

Although the Daily Mail had at first a 
clear field, a rival paper soon appeared. 
Within a year Harmsworth's persistent 
competitor, Pearson, started a morning 
paper called the Daily Express, which re- 
sembled the Daily Mail in make-up and con- 
tents. Pearson even went a step further 
than the Daily Mail by presenting the news 
on the first page of his paper, while Harms- 
worth had followed the English custom of 
devoting the outside page to advertising. 
Eventually the Daily Express became a 
good property, and at the present time it 
has a large circulation, although its success 
was never so pronounced as that of the 
Daily Mail, 

In building up the enormous circulation 
of his paper Harmsworth displayed his 
genius as a publisher in a striking way. 
Among other things, he solved the problem 
of placing the Daily Mail so promptly in the 
hands of readers throughout Great Britain 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 161 

that it became a national organ and not 
merely a local newspaper. At Manchester, 
two hundred miles north of London, he 
opened a branch office with a printing de- 
partment, and there an exact duplicate of 
the London edition is produced every morn- 
ing, the entire contents of the paper being 
telegraphed every night over private wires. 
By means of special trains the Manchester 
edition is able to reach Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
Aberdeen, and other distant places in time to 
be placed on the breakfast table with the 
local newspapers. The London edition has 
its radius to the south, covering the country 
as far as Cornwall. It is therefore correct to 
say that the Daily Mail is obtainable every 
morning from Land's End to John o' 
Groat's House. 

In order that English people traveling or 
residing on the Continent may be kept in 
touch with home and world affairs, a smaller 
yet satisfactory edition of the Daily Mail 
is published in Paris and is distributed in 
most parts of Europe. Until the outbreak 
of the war a Riviera edition was printed at 
Nice during the winter season, thus supply- 
ing the needs of thousands of English read- 



162 NORTHCLIFFE 

ers at Monte Carlo and other resorts on the 
Mediterranean coast. 

In recent years the headquarters of the 
Daily Mail have been at Carmehte House, 
near Fleet Street, formerly the home of the 
Amalgamated Press, where the Evening 
News also is published. The building is full 
of mechanical wonders, including the Hoe 
presses, the largest in England. In the edi- 
torial department an instrument called the 
" electrophone " is occasionally employed 
when important speeches are delivered at 
some distance from London, which enables 
them to be instantly recorded by stenogra- 
phers in the Daily Mail office, and to be set 
up in type without delay. Late news is tele- 
phoned direct to the Paris office. In the 
foreign department a tape machine de- 
livers news direct from New York. The 
circulation department has a great array 
of motor wagons, trucks, and bicycles to 
facilitate delivery of the paper to local 
dealers. 

Through the enterprise of its management, 
the Daily Mail has entered intimately into 
the social and business life of Great Britain, 
a fact which can be demonstrated by a re- 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 163 

cital of just a few of its achievements in 
recent years. 

This paper was the first Enghsh daily to 
reahze that the automobile was not merely 
a toy or a luxurious convenience but fore- 
shadowed a complete transformation in meth- 
ods of land transportation. The publicity 
and encouragement it gave to the industry 
did much to stimulate English automobile 
manufacturers in catching up with their 
French rivals. 

Realizing from the start the possibilities 
of aviation, the Daily Mail has offered, in 
all, the sum of two hundred thousand dol- 
lars in cash prizes to encourage flying con- 
tests. It has done more than any other sin- 
gle agency to popularize the sport and to 
equip the British army and navy with what 
the present war has proved to be an indis- 
pensable weapon. 

Among the interesting events of early 
days was the award of a prize of five thou- 
sand dollars to Bleriot, who first succeeded 
in crossing the English Channel on a trip 
from Paris to London. Another long-dis- 
tance prize was awarded for a flight from 
London to Manchester — about the same dis- 



164 NORTHCLIFFE 

tance as from New York to Boston. !iS 
prize was offered, later on, for a flight from 
London to Scotland and back, a distance of 
one thousand miles. The Daily Mail now 
has a standing offer of fifty thousand dol- 
lars to the first aviator who succeeds in 
crossing the Atlantic, the prize being open 
to aviators of all nations. 

A few years ago this enterprising journal 
was the promoter of a movement to check 
the alarming decline in British agriculture. 
As an object lesson a small farm was stocked 
and equipped and a tenant selected, for the 
purpose of proving that any person of intel^- 
ligence, by adopting the right methods, could 
make a small farm yield a good profit. The 
entire country became interested in the ex- 
periment, which was remarkably successful. 

Another useful project was the evolution 
of the Daily Mail loaf. The idea was to 
show that modern systems of milling were 
producing a flour which lacked the nutritious 
elements of wheat. Accordingly, three thou- 
sand dollars was spent in an effort to pro- 
duce a standardized loaf for the British pub- 
lic, containing at least eighty per cent of 
the wheat. As the result of this agitation a 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 165 

distinct and permanent improvement in the 
bread of the nation was brought about. 

In recent years the EngHsh love of gar- 
dening was stimulated by prizes offered by 
the Daily Mail, amounting to five thousand 
dollars, for the finest bunches of sweet peas 
raised in home gardens, while another large 
sum was offered for a new variety of rose. 

Among other things, the Daily Mail has 
carried on a campaign for pure milk; it has 
awarded prizes for the best designs of cot- 
tages and other small houses; and it has paid 
out thousands of pounds in conducting a 
plan of insurance by which readers of the 
paper are indemnified for accidents occur- 
ring in public vehicles. A brokerage ex- 
change, which has been established, enables 
readers to buy or sell stocks without the red 
tape and heavy charges that usually char- 
acterize stock-exchange transactions in Lon- 
don. 

When taxi cabs were introduced in Lon- 
don and horse cabmen were thrown out of 
employment in large numbers, the Daily 
Mail raised nearly forty thousand dollars in 
a few days for their relief. At the same 
time a pension scheme for the older men was 



166 NORTHCLIFFE 

arranged, and over five hundred cabmen were 
trained as motor drivers. 

Impressed by the difficulties of the bhnd 
in keeping in touch with passing events, a 
weekly edition of the Daily Mail in Braille 
type was started a few years ago. 

In recent times the power of this live daily 
as a money raiser has frequently been evi- 
denced. In 1912, for instance, over three 
hundred thousand dollars was raised for the 
relief of the Titanic victims, the money be- 
ing contributed exclusively by women read- 
ers of the paper. During the war eighty 
thousand dollars was raised in four days 
for the purpose of establishing a Union Jack 
Club for soldiers and sailors. 

Viewed from a strictly commercial point 
of view, the various enterprises and achieve- 
ments of the Daily Mail have proved a source 
of great profit, by indirectly increasing cir- 
culation. This, in turn, has made possible 
the securing of an abundance of advertising, 
at rates that range from fifteen hundred to 
twenty-five hundred dollars a page. The 
outside page, which is naturally the preferred 
position, has been at times in such demand 
that advertisers desiring it have been put on 



A WONDERFUL NEWSPAPER 167 

a waiting list. From a broader standpoint 
the Northcliffe policy of anticipating the de- 
mands of the British people has given the 
Daily Mail national prestige, and has made 
the paper an almost inspired chronicler of 
Great Britain's political, social, and commer- 
cial needs. 

As Alfred Harmsworth, and to-day as 
Lord Northchife, the guiding spirit of the 
Daily Mail has proved himself to be the 
most influential newspaper proprietor in the 
British Empire. Much of his success has 
been attained by keeping abreast of popular 
movements, and never being afraid to change 
his policy in order to be in harmony with the 
spirit of the masses. Whenever he has seen 
the waves rising from the level of the popu- 
lace, he has preferred to go with the current 
rather than be overwhelmed by it. His suc- 
cess has often been due to his cutting away 
from old moorings. Through his ability to 
look into the future and anticipate coming 
events, which has sometimes been remark- 
able, he has surprised the public by his 
knowledge of affairs, and this has done much 
to increase his following. 

So deeply has his popular newspaper be- 



168 NORTHCLIFFE 

come interwoven with the fabric of British 
social life that when it agitates for any re- 
form the public response that follows is usu- 
ally too great to be ignored. Holding itself 
clear outside the humdrum game of politics 
as played by other papers, and viewing is- 
sues from a non-partisan standpoint, Lord 
Northcliffe's Daily Mail has become a me- 
dium by which its owner's piercing insight 
into the heart of things, and his courage to 
express himself regardless of the views of 
others, have made his pen the lash that has 
driven muddlers and incompetents from 
office and enabled him to dethrone popular 
but inefficient idols, even when they were in 
the form of prime ministers and govern- 
ments. 



VI ^ 

WOMEN AND PICTURES 

" Cherchez la femme " is the advice given 
by the French whenever an explanation of 
most human mishaps is demanded. And, 
strange as it may seem, woman, who brought 
our first parent so much disaster, was des- 
tined to cause the first halt in Lord North- 
cliffe's successful career. 

Until that time the versatile publisher's 
judgment of the British public's needs and 
desires, as far as newspapers were concerned, 
had been almost infallible; but when he en- 
deavored to gauge correctly the mysteries of 
the feminine mind he failed, as some of the 
greatest figures in history failed, thus prov- 
ing that even the most brilliant of men has 
his limitations. How it all happened forms 
a most interesting story. 

Following the success of the Evening 
News and the Daily Mail, Northcliffe, or 
Alfred Harmsworth as he was then, became 

169 



170 NORTHCLIFFE 

imbued with the idea that women did not 
read ordinary daily papers with deep inter- 
est because the reading matter appealed 
chiefly to men. Thus he reached the con- 
clusion that there was a distinct need for 
a women's newspaper, written and edited by 
women, and giving news that would interest 
women exclusively. As the result of this 
decision, he started such a paper in October, 
1903, having chosen the attractive title. The 
Daily Mirror. 

Summed up in a few words, this enter- 
prise proved to be an utter failure. And 
yet, by abandoning his original idea and 
bringing into play his undaunted genius, 
Harmsworth actually turned the paper into 
a gigantic success. When he had overcome 
failure he made a clean breast of his first 
defeat. 

In an article entitled, " How I Lost a 
Hundred Thousand Pounds" ($500,000), 
he said: " Having for many years fostered a 
theory that a daily newspaper for women 
was in urgent request, I started one. This 
belief cost me one hundred thousand pounds. 
I found out that I was beaten, that women 
did not want a paper of their own. It was 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 171 

simply another instance of failure made by 
mere man in diagnosing woman's needs. 
Some people say that a woman never really 
knows what she wants. It is certain that she 
knew what she did not want. She did not 
want the Daily Mirror as it first appeared." 

As a woman's paper the Daily Mirror 
was about the size of Collier's Weekly, It 
was unillustrated, it gave a condensed sum- 
mary of the world's news, and devoted a 
large amount of space to social gossip, 
fashions, home chats, and other topics sup- 
posed to be of foremost interest to women 
readers. 

The employment of a staff composed en- 
tirely of women led to some of the most 
amusing incidents in the whole range of mod- 
ern journalism. In addition to the ladies of 
the staff — editors, copy readers, and report- 
ers — two or three men were stationed in the 
office in an advisory capacity. The latter 
soon discovered that the Mirror was a " live " 
paper in more ways than one. 

The truth is that, at that time, the woman 
journalist was comparatively new in Eng- 
land, and the ladies of the Mirror seemed 
unable to separate their social life from their 



172 NORTHCLIFFE 

business duties. In this country, of course, 
the newspaper woman is a recognized insti- 
tution, and the women of the press have 
proved themselves to be fully as capable as 
the men. But in England, when the Daily 
Mirror was started, the situation was dif- 
ferent. 

A member of the original staff, who is 
now engaged in American newspaper work, 
has given an amusing account of what was 
witnessed in the Mirror office in the early 
days. In relating his story, he says : " When 
the paper was first started, the editorial de- 
partment was the scene of much comedy, 
with an occasional touch of tragedy. Every 
moment there was wrangling between the 
lady reporters and editresses, who bounced in 
and out of the rooms like the funny charac- 
ters in an English pantomime, more intent 
on squabbling than on working. Amidst the 
banging of doors would be heard such epi- 
thets as ' creature,' ' impossible person,' or 
* cat,' intermingled with angry commands, 
such as, ' I say you shall,' followed by the 
defiant retort, ' I say I won't.' 

" That wasn't the worst of it, however. 
The poor males about the place were turned 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 173 

into messenger boys and were kept running 
errands. One thoroughly disciphned and 
subdued married man was actually enlisted 
to do shopping, even to the extent of match- 
ing ribbons. All the ladies stopped work to 
have their tea at five o'clock every afternoon, 
no matter how exciting the news might be. 
Sometimes one of the men would be sent out 
to buy them cakes and other eatables. Then 
the ladies divided themselves into little 
cliques and one set wouldn't speak to another 
set. 

" One afternoon, at tea time, the city 
editress rushed into the reporters' room and 
announced that there was a big fire near the 
Mansion House (the ofiicial residence of 
London's Lord Mayor) . ' One of you ladies 
will have to cover the story,' she said. The 
lady reporters took no notice of the inter- 
ruption beyond remarking that the editress 
was ' a most extraordinary person,' and went 
on discussing their social affairs. When, at 
last, the editress returned and raised a rum- 
pus, each reporter declared that she couldn't 
possibly go to the fire because she had an im- 
portant engagement elsewhere. One of the 
men had to cover the assignment. That was 



174 NORTHCLIFFE 

a typical incident. The lady reporters had 
absolutely no news sense. All they could 
talk about was dress, social functions, and 
women's wrongs." 

Among the men who kept an eye on the 
Mirror was an able journalist named Bolton, 
who usually had charge of the paper at night 
when it went to press. Among other duties, 
he was authorized to settle disputes among 
the women and preserve order. To have 
filled such a position satisfactorily would 
have required the cunning of Machiavelli, 
the grace of Don Juan, and the wisdom of 
Socrates, a combination of qualities which, of 
course, no man on earth ever possessed. 
The result was that purgatory itself would 
have been a paradise in comparison with 
what Bolton had to endure. There were, 
for instance, frequent disputes among the 
ladies as to assignments, and the space that 
stories should fill. Rows on these subjects 
were constantly in progress. One evening a 
friend of Bolton's, who happened to call at 
the Mirror office, found him surrounded by a 
phalanx of angry women. 

" Do you realize, Mr. Bolton," exclaimed 
one of them, " that I have been working for 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 175 

hours on this story, and it ought to fill at 
least two columns; but that indescribable 
person over there (indicating the city edi- 
tress) has actually cut it down to two 
inches? " 

" My dear madam," replied Bolton, " I 
have been a reporter myself, and sometimes 
when I had worked a whole day on a story 
it never appeared at all." 

" That may be true," retorted the lady 
reporter icily, " but my story is a good 
story." 

Several other ladies, holding proof sheets, 
then broke into the discussion with various 
complaints, all talking at once. In the midst 
of the altercation the managing editress burst 
through the group like a human cyclone, re- 
marking excitedly: "Now, Mr. Bolton, 
you'll have to decide what to do." 

Here was a highly modernized version of 
that classic fiction, the judgment of Paris, 
but poor Bolton was hard pressed in at- 
tempting to follow the precedent. " I shall 
have to refer these matters," he groaned eva- 
sively, as he rubbed his aching head. He 
knew only too well that there was no one to 
whom he could refer the disputes. When 



176 NORTHCLIFFE 

his friend left he was still arguing, and there 
seemed to be no end to the discussion. 

It is not surprising that, some months 
later, Bolton, a complete nervous wreck, re- 
tired to a farm to raise poultry and follow 
other restful pursuits. His experience on 
the women's paper had been too much for 
him. He never returned to journalism, and 
in his household the Daily Mirror is a sub- 
ject tabooed. 

The wrangling of the women editors and 
reporters was not occasional but continuous; 
harmonious cooperation was found to be im- 
possible, and personal animosities and petty 
rivalries held sway. In fact, the Mirror office 
was distinguished by much the same lack of 
a definite policy as distinguished the Bandar- 
log in Kipling's " Jungle Book." 

The box office receipts furnish the best 
evidence of a theatre's prosperity; in the 
newspaper world circulation is the test of 
popularity. Judged from this standpoint, 
the outlook for the Daily Mirror was far 
from encouraging. The paper had started 
with a circulation of nearly half a million, 
but each day witnessed a greater falling off, 
until the profits were swept away like leaves 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 177 

I—— ■■■■— ^™ 

in a wintry blast. This was serious. For 
while a successful newspaper can soon 
build up a fortune for its owner, a fail- 
ure has a prodigious faculty of devouring 
money, and can gobble down thousands of 
golden coin with the same ease that a 
Broadway spendthrift gets rid of a ten- 
dollar bill. 

It was undoubtedly a unique and dis- 
agreeable experience for Alfred Harmsworth 
to be dipping into his exchequer in response 
to the unceasing cry from the Daily Mirror 
for money and still more money. It was, 
however, a demand that continued for only 
a short time, for the shrewd publisher speed- 
ily came to the conclusion that, for the first 
time, he was beaten. 

"How is the patient?" Harold Harms- 
worth was asked, one day, by a friend who 
thus jokingly referred to the Mirror, 

"Very low, indeed," he replied, adapting 
his answer to fitting similes. " Her circula- 
tion is very bad, it's constantly getting worse, 
and I'm afraid she's going to die." 

" She won't die," Alfred Harmsworth 
broke in, pugnaciously. " There must be 
some cure, and we shall find it yet," he 



178 NORTHCLIFFE 

added, showing in a phrase his great quali- 
ties, optimism and determination. 

Then again there came to his rescue that 
sixth sense, — if so it may be termed, — the 
instinct that had been his since he started his 
first paper. He put to himself the question 
he had so often asked and answered: What 
do the people want in the way of news- 
papers? The Daily Mail supphes the morn- 
ing news, and the Evening News covers the 
later happenings. A morning or evening 
newspaper would naturally compete and thus 
divide the field and profits. Now, what is 
there that we haven't already got? 

As he surveyed the situation closely, the 
big idea suddenly occurred to him, that peo- 
ple hke pictures! 

Beyond an occasional portrait, the London 
dailies seldom contained any illustrations. 
The Daily Mail had owed part of its suc- 
cess to having illustrated some of its articles. 
The continuous success of the Illustrated 
London News and the Graphic had shown 
that a big demand existed for weekly illus- 
trated papers. There was also, at that time, 
an illustrated daily paper, the Daily 
Graphic^ which had been running for several 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 179 

years with moderate success. That paper, 
however, used line drawings instead of re- 
productions of photographs, so that its 
novelty was slight. Elaborating this idea, 
Harmsworth decided, at last, that he would 
change the Daily Mirror into an illustrated 
paper, using halftone reproductions of photo- 
graphs, and in supplying its contents would 
make use of the cameras of photographers 
instead of the pencils of reporters. 

His next idea was to use halftone illus- 
trations on almost every page, and to con- 
dense the reading matter — the ordinary news 
of the day — into the smallest possible limits. 
The policy of getting the first news, which 
had been followed with such success in the 
case of the Daily Mail, would be adopted in 
obtaining Daily Mirror illustrations. The 
editorial staff would be ordered to get the 
first photographs illustrating important 
events. 

When these ideas had been worked out, 
Harmsworth reorganized the Daily Mirror 
ofiice. The lady editresses and reporters de- 
parted, and their places were taken by a 
staff of live young men. At the same time, 
photographic and photo-engraving depart- 



180 NORTHCLIFFE 

ments were started, and presses of a special 
type were installed to print the new illus- 
trated paper. Instead of employing a num- 
ber of writers and reporters, the energetic 
publisher organized a corps of photographers 
to cover events in Great Britain, while in 
place of correspondents, photographic repre- 
sentatives were appointed in all parts of the 
world. JThus it was impossible for an im- 
portant event to occur anywhere without the 
Mirror being in a position to obtain the first 
and best pictures. 

The illustrated Mirror, somewhat reduced 
in size, but with more pages, was issued at 
the end of 1903. It proved an immediate 
success. When the change was made the 
circulation had dropped to 20,000, but the 
new paper started off with a circulation of 
60,000, which was soon increased to 100,000. 
As a woman's paper the Mirror had cost a 
penny (two cents). As a picture paper the 
price was reduced to a halfpenny. 

Once the paper was started and meeting 
with encouragement, no expense was spared 
in making it a success. For the first time 
in British journalism, or in the journalism 
of the world for that matter, photographic 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 181 

beats became as important as news beats. 
Nothing was thought of hiring special trains 
to get a handful of pictures to the Daily 
Mirror office in time to illustrate some im- 
portant news story. Photographers were 
dispatched to all parts of the world on spe- 
cial missions, just as newspaper correspond- 
ents are sent to write descriptive articles. 
When, for example, the situation in China 
seemed to be precipitating trouble, a few 
years ago, a Daily Mirror photographer was 
sent there to snap everything of interest and 
await results, so that the Mirror was not 
only supplied with a complete set of photo- 
graphs of Chinese scenes and notables, but a 
man was on hand with his camera, ready for 
action if anything important happened. 

When Colonel Roosevelt went on his Afri- 
can hunting trip, a Daily Mirror photogra- 
pher accompanied his expedition, and the 
American newspapers were dependent on the 
enterprise of the London paper for their pic- 
tures of the mighty hunter in the depths of 
the jungle. 

The first bulletin of the Messina earth- 
quake had no sooner reached the Mirror 
office than a staff photographer was rushed 



182 NORTHCLIFFE 

to the scene of the disaster. So quick was 
the action of the Mirror that it not only- 
printed the first photographs showing the 
effects of the earthquake, but it actually 
cleared eight thousand dollars by selling 
duplicate sets to continental newspapers, 
even including some of the Italian journals. 

During the Turkish-Italian War, a Daily 
Mirror photographer chartered an ocean 
steamer, the only vessel obtainable in Italian 
wafers, to take him to Tripoli. He was the 
first to arrive there, and established a historic 
precedent by leaping ashore, hiring a cab, 
and giving the order: " Drive me to the bat- 
tlefield." 

When King George went to India to hold 
a durbar and assume the crown as Emperor 
of India, a Mirror photographer was sent 
ahead to make arrangements for getting a 
complete set of pictures illustrating this im- 
portant ceremony. 

During the present war the photographic 
beats of the Mirror have been innumerable, 
the camera men having been stationed on all 
parts of the fighting line. Some of them 
have taken photographs at the risk of their 
lives, and have outrivaled newspaper corre- 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 183 

spondents in their efforts to record important 
events. 

When the Mirror was first changed into 
an illustrated paper, various ingenious de- 
vices were employed to increase its circu- 
lation. Here again Alfred Harmsworth 
showed that his skill in promoting novel 
" boosting " schemes was as great as ever. 
Among other things, a special performance 
was given at the Crystal Palace, a huge 
amusement building on the outskirts of Lon- 
don, to which free admission was obtained 
by presenting coupons clipped from the 
Daily Mirror, To carry out this idea cost 
less than five hundred dollars, but the effect 
on circulation was incalculable. Widespread 
interest was also aroused by the first non- 
stop automobile test of two thousand miles 
on a course around Great Britain, which 
was conducted by the paper. This lifted the 
circulation still higher. 

A year after the paper was reorganized, it 
was announced that Mirror photographers 
would appear at various seaside resorts and 
at each place a group of people on the beach 
would be photographed. To every person 
whose face appeared in the published photo- 



184 NORTHCLIFFE 

graphs the Mirror would present five shil- 
lings ($1.25) and a silver-mounted fountain 
pen. The result was that the photographers 
were literally mobbed by people anxious to 
be photographed, and in some instances were 
badly bruised. At Ramsgate, on one occa- 
sion, the camera man was pushed into the 
sea, washed away with his camera, and al- 
most drowned. 

Beauty contests, with big money prizes, 
which gave opportunities for theatrical 
preferment, were also introduced with great 
success. 

Like the clever diagnostician that he was, 
Harmsworth had discerned just what the 
public wanted. Promoted by a corps of ex- 
pert circulation men, who traveled all over 
Great Britain, the Daily Mirror was at last 
made a tremendous success. Within a year 
the paper which, in a few months, had cost 
its founder five hundred thousand dollars, 
and had once been at the point of death, was 
showing a profit of over seven thousand dol- 
lars a week and increasing daily in popu- 
larity. 

It is a curious and interesting psychologi- 
cal reflection that the women who had shown 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 185 

so plainly that they would not have the origi- 
nal woman-made and woman-conducted 
Daily Mirror now formed the bulk of the 
supporters of the picture paper. At the 
present day any observer who travels in the 
London subway trains or on the motor busses 
during the morning hours will invariably no- 
tice that half the women passengers carry 
copies of the Mirror, and while most of them 
pay little attention to the reading matter 
every one of them takes an obvious delight 
in the pictures. 

In the case of the Daily Mirror Harms- 
worth's strong common sense was shown by 
his realization that, figuratively speaking, the 
way to get past a stone wall is not by at- 
tempting to break through it but by finding 
a way over or around it. He displayed the 
same good judgment in his method of deal- 
ing with a Sunday edition of the Daily Mail. 

At that time the Enghsh Sunday news- 
papers, although prosperous enough and hav- 
ing fairly large circulations, were mostly 
wretched affairs, consisting chiefly of a re- 
hash of the week's news, while special features 
were provided by stories of crime and reports 
of unsavory divorce cases. Alfred Harms- 



186 NORTHCLIFFE 

worth decided to present something better by 
issuing a Sunday edition of his popular daily. 
As soon as this appeared, however, a great 
outcry was made against it by religious peo- 
ple all over the country, largely abetted by 
rival newspapers. " The Daily Mail is 
desecrating the Sabbath," it was declared. 
Furthermore, it was shown that while the 
Harmsworth periodicals included certain 
religious publications that advocated the ob- 
servance of a Christian Sabbath, a Harms- 
worth newspaper was actually breaking the 
Sabbath. 

It was in vain that the publisher pointed 
out that the existing Sunday papers were 
printed on Saturday night, and that the 
Daily Mail was merely following the same 
course. Opposition increased, and the con- 
troversy became so embittered that, acceding 
to the public's verdict, Harmsworth stopped 
the publication of the Sunday edition. 

Some time later, he succeeded in his pur- 
pose of issuing a modernized Sunday edition 
when he purchased and transformed the 
Weekly Dispatch, a Sunday newspaper that 
had been founded in 1803. Like the Eve- 
ning News before its revitahzation under 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 187 

Harmsworth management, the Weekly Dis" 
patch had experienced frequent changes of 
ownership and its circulation had been de- 
creasing for several years. As soon as 
Harmsworth took it in hand it was changed 
into a live, successful paper, while all objec- 
tionable features were eUminated. Thus it 
found its way into the homes of people who 
had hitherto objected to reading a Sunday 
edition. 

In this way Harmsworth gained his point, 
and not only obtained his Sunday news- 
paper, but at the same time overcame the 
bitter antagonism which had been aroused 
by his endeavor to publish a Sunday edition 
of the Daily Mail, Furthermore, his wide 
vision had foreseen the difficulties of Sunday 
distribution and he had prepared to meet 
them. On week days special newspaper 
trains carry the London newspapers to all 
parts of the United Kingdom, but on Sun- 
days the rigorous blue laws, framed long ago 
by the preservers of the sanctity of the Brit- 
ish Sabbath, prevent the running of such 
trains. To overcome this obstacle. Harms- 
worth immediately organized a system of 
distribution by means of swift motor trucks. 



188 NORTHCLIFFE 

which covered a wide radius in supplying the 
Weekly Dispatch to news dealers. 

This attention to important matters on the 
part of Alfred Harmsworth had always been 
typical of his working methods, his habit be- 
ing to concentrate his mind on the big things 
while leaving the minor details to subordi- 
nates. To-day, as Lord Northcliffe, he has 
been enabled to retain his energy and capa- 
city for work even with the increasing de- 
mands upon his business hours. Each new 
child of his creation has in turn received his 
parental care as if it had been his only off- 
spring, and yet, at the same time, he has 
never neglected any member of his brood, 
no matter how thriving it might be. Neglect, 
as he knows, might cause one of his charges 
to drift into bad habits, and bad habits natu- 
rally result in deterioration in periodicals and 
newspapers just as they cause the downfall 
of human beings. Northchffe, therefore, has 
given his closest attention to all his impor- 
tant publications, with that cosmic grasp of 
the essential which distinguishes the man who 
is really great. 

In the case of the Daily Mirror he was 
a stern censor of the photographs that were 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 189 

ill . I i I 

presented for publication, and insisted on the 
highest standard of morahty being observed. 
The idea of gaining circulation by appeals to 
the morbid or abnormal was, therefore, 
strictly condemned by him. How closely he 
kept watch on any tendency in this direction 
one instance will suffice to show. 

The editor of the Daily Mirror had ar- 
ranged, at great expense, to get by special 
messenger photographs of the championship 
fight between Jeffries and Johnson at Carson 
City, Nevada. In the meantime the British 
news dealers, having been informed of this 
impending feature, ordered over 1,250,000 
copies of the prize-fight edition. Just as the 
paper was going to press Lord NorthcUffe 
sent for the proof sheets and examined them 
carefully. Then he reached an unexpected 
decision. "Don't print one of those fight 
photographs," he Jold the editor. " I don't 
think it is wise to glorify the victory of a 
negro over a white man, and besides the pic- 
tures themselves are likely to prove offensive 
to our decent women readers." 

At the last moment the whole paper was 
changed, and it appeared the next day with- 
out a single fight picture. The disappoint- 



190 NORTHCLIFFE 

ment to news dealers, the temporary loss of 
circulation, and the futile expense incurred 
in obtaining the photographs were, however, 
minor incidentals to the owner of the Daily 
Mirror, Whether Northcliff e's prophetic in- 
tuition discerned the wretched career of 
Johnson in after years, his escape from this 
country to avoid prosecution, and his flight 
from England since the war, under threats 
of deportation, it is impossible to say, 
but in this case the great journalist's edi- 
torial judgment proved to be remarkably 
sound. 

As explained in a previous chapter. Lord 
Northcliife, from the start, arranged for the 
complete separation of his periodical and 
newspaper interests. The former, it will be 
recalled, was incorporated as a hmited com- 
pany known as the Amalgamated Press. 
The Daily Mail, the Evening News, and the 
Weekly Dispatch (which are popularly 
termed the " Northcliff e press") are also 
controlled by a stock company entitled the 
Associated Newspapers, Limited, while the 
Daily Mirror forms a separate organization 
called the Pictorial Newspaper Company. 
After the newspaper companies were organ- 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 191 

ized, members of the staffs were given an 
opportunity to buy shares at attractive prices 
on the instalknent plan. 

In this connection it is of interest to add 
that the system of profit sharing which 
Northchff e, as Alfred Harmsworth, had in- 
troduced so successfully into his periodical 
business, was continued with equal success in 
the direction of his newspapers. Among the 
instances of men who became wealthy as the 
result of this system the following may be 
mentioned : 

Lord Rothermere, as Harold Harms- 
worth, was associated with his brother's news- 
paper business from the start. To-day he is 
reputed to be the wealthiest member of the 
Harms worth family. Some years ago he be- 
came a newspaper owner on his own account, 
and he now owns several important provin- 
cial journals, such as the Sheffield Mercury 
and the Glasgow Record, 

Kennedy Jones, or " K. J.," as he is still 
popularly known in London newspaper cir- 
cles, was also favored by fortune. After 
obtaining his interest in the Evening News 
and the editorship of that paper, as related 
in the preceding chapter, he became associ- 



192 NORTHCLIFFE 

ated with Alfred Harmsworth's other ven- 
tures in the newspaper world, and thus ac- 
quired interests in the Daily Mail:, the Daily 
Mirror, and the Weekly Dispatch, A few 
years ago he retired from newspaper life 
after disposing of his various interests. To- 
day he is a man of millions. 

Thomas Marlowe, editor of the Daily 
Mail, who has directed the paper for many 
years, is said to enjoy an income, through his 
salary and bonuses, in comparison with which 
the much-discussed salary of Arthur Bris- 
bane would appear small. 

Alec Kenealy, who was appointed editor 
of the Daily Mirror when the paper was 
changed from a woman's daily into a picture 
paper, displayed great ability as a jour- 
nalist, having been trained in American 
newspaper methods. When he died a few 
years ago he had accumulated a large for- 
tune. 

Pomeroy Burton, another American news- 
paperman, who took charge of the business 
department of the Daily Mail in recent 
years, also became a millionaire. 

As a sequel to the incidents recorded in 
this chapter it may be added that the Weekly 




Lord Rothermere 

(Harold Harmsworth) 

A power in the financial world, brother of 

Lord Northcliffe 



1 ■-' 






WOMEN AND PICTURES 193 

Dispatch is published at Carmelite House, 
the headquarters of the Daily Mail and Eve- 
ning News. By a strange coincidence, the 
Daily Mirror^ although a great success, has 
its offices in a building which was associated 
with a journahstic failure. The Mirror 
Building in Bouverie Street, a few doors 
from Fleet Street, was erected about ten 
years ago by the promoters of a new morn- 
ing paper, the Daily Tribune, which proved 
to be a losing venture. The owners of this 
paper unwisely failed to profit by the experi- 
ence of the Daily Mail and, instead of issu- 
ing a paper of compact size, adopted the 
blanket-sheet style and antiquated make-up 
that distinguished the old-fashioned London 
dailies. As might have been expected the 
paper failed to make a hit, and after a brief 
and unprofitable career it ceased publi- 
cation. 

The fact that the Daily Mirror is pub- 
lished in what was once the home of the ill- 
fated Tribune has had no evil effect on its 
fortunes. Its popularity has steadily in- 
creased, while its circulation, at times, has 
exceeded a million. In recent years the 
paper has experienced a change of owner- 



194 NORTHCLIFFE 

ship, which occurred when Harold Harms- 
worth desired to become a peer, an honor 
that had already been conferred upon his 
brother. Harold Harmsworth had long been 
known as an enthusiastic Liberal, while Lord 
Northcliffe is an equally staunch Conserva- 
tive. There was consequently some difficulty 
over the bestowal of a peerage on Harold 
Harmsworth by the Liberal government, as 
long as he held a large interest in the Daily 
Mail, which is nominally Conservative in 
tone. To overcome this objection, so the 
story goes, Harold Harmsworth disposed of 
his interests in the Daily Mail and purchased 
the Daily Mirror from his brother, possibly 
with the idea of making it a Liberal 
organ. 

Under its new ownership, the paper has 
maintained its popularity as well as the high 
standard of its contents. Since the begin- 
ning of the war a Sunday edition has been 
issued, entitled the Sunday Pictorial, and so 
eager is the British public to get war news 
and war pictures that no objection to its 
publication has been raised. The same is 
true, however, of most of the London news- 
papers, which, owing to the demand for war 



WOMEN AND PICTURES 195 



news, have issued Sunday editions regularly 
during the last three years. It seems quite 
possible that when the war is over the Sun- 
day newspaper will have been established in 
England as a permanent institution. 



VII 
"THE THUNDERER" 

When Alfred Harmsworth as a youth of 
twenty-three had confidently predicted that 
some day he would be at the head of a large 
periodical business and own a daily news- 
paper, besides having a seat in the House of 
Lords, he could scarcely have imagined that 
in less than nineteen years his ambitions 
would be realized. And yet, in 1906, he had 
become Lord Northcliffe, he was at the head 
of the largest pubHshing business in the 
world, and he owned some highly successful 
newspapers. Nevertheless, he still lacked 
the crowning realization of his early dreams, 
the ownership of the London Times. 

At that time it would have seemed impos- 
sible for Northcliffe to gain control of the 
world-famous newspaper. In spite of his 
wealth and success, he appeared to the con- 
servative classes in England to be identified 
with yellow journalism, and for that reason 

196 



"THE THUNDERER" 197 

the possibility of his becoming the owner of 
The Times would have been regarded by 
them as nothing less than a national calam- 
ity. For over a hundred years The Times 
had remained in the possession of the Walter 
family, descendants of the founder, and the 
mere suggestion of changing its ownership 
would have appeared hardly less starthng 
than a proposal to change the reigning house 
of Britain. 

Great was the astonishment, therefore, 
when the newspapers one day, toward the 
end of 1906, announced that Lord North- 
cliffe had purchased The Times and was 
preparing to take an active part in its man- 
agement. The manner in which the enter- 
prising publisher obtained control of the 
paper which Abraham Lincoln once declared 
to be " the most powerful thing in the world 
excepting the Mississippi " furnishes a strik- 
ing illustration of the relentless persistency, 
shrewdness, and subtlety which have en- 
abled him to achieve most of his aims. 

Probably no man in England had realized 
more thoroughly than Northcliffe himself 
the antagonism with which he was regarded 
by the so-called conservative classes, and that 



198 NORTHCLIFFE 

the mere rumor that he was planning to get 
control of The Times would have been suf- 
ficient to array powerful influences against 
him and render the feat impossible. 

It was known in 1906 that members of the 
Walter family, who headed a private syndi- 
cate which controlled The Times, were de- 
sirous of finding a suitable purchaser. 
Shortly afterwards the announcement was 
made that Cyril Arthur Pearson, North- 
cUffe's plodding rival, had obtained control 
of the paper. Here it may be explained that 
although Pearson also was regarded as a yel- 
low journalist by the ultra-conservatives, he 
was admitted to be of a milder type than 
Northcliife, and therefore, while the elect 
regretted exceedingly that The Times should 
have fallen upon such evil days, yet their 
regret was tempered with the satisfaction 
that Pearson's acquisition of the paper had, 
at least, prevented Northcliffe from becom- 
ing its owner. 

How did it happen, then, that North- 
cliffe was able to emerge triumphantly after 
all? The answer is that unknown to Pear- 
son, or even to the owners of The Times 
themselves, he had quietly purchased, through 



"THE THUNDERER" 199 

a confidential agent, a majority of the Times 
stock, which was in the hands of sixty-eight 
holders. Pearson had obtained a certain 
amount of stock and supposed that the re- 
mainder was practically in his hands. At 
the last moment, however, he was check- 
mated by the wily Northcliffe. 

During his negotiations for the purchase 
of the stock Northchife, apparently to con- 
ceal his moves, let it be announced that he 
had left for the Continent. He went, in 
fact, to Boulogne, where he met Moberly 
Bell, the general manager of The TimeSj 
who was assisting him to get control of the 
paper. The scene of the conference was the 
Hotel Christol. In referring to the incident 
in recent times, Northcliffe said: "I am at- 
tached to the old hotel because of the fact 
that it was there, far from the madding 
crowd and the observant eyes of Fleet Street, 
that Mr, Bell and I concluded negotiations 
by which I became associated with The 
Timesf' 

It may be added that Pearson's attempt 
to get possession of The Times, and his sub- 
sequent failure, marked the end of his rivalry 
with Northcliffe. At that time he owned 



200 NORTHCLIFFE 

the Daily Express, He had also become 
owner of the Standard and the St, James* 
Gazette, the latter an evening newspaper. 
Under his management the Standard, which 
was one of the old London dailies, was mod- 
ernized and advertised, but it failed to be- 
come a money maker, and ultimately went 
out of existence. In recent years Pearson, 
having lost his eyesight, disposed of his 
newspaper interests. During the war he 
has headed a movement for the aid of 
blind soldiers. As a recognition of his 
public services he was given the title of 
baronet. 

The rivalry between Northcliff e and Pear- 
son, it should be explained, was always of 
the friendliest character, their competition in 
business having aroused no ill feeling. This 
fact was mentioned by Lord Northcliffe in 
an interview two or three years ago, when 
he spoke of the loss British journalism had 
sustained through Sir Arthur Pearson's re- 
tirement. " He has been one of the great 
vitalizers of the profession to which he and 
I belong," added Lord Northcliffe. " His 
staffs have always been cheery and optimistic 
and devoted to him. We have been in good- 



"THE THUNDERER" 201 

natured conflict most of the time since he and 
I as boys first knew each other, but we have 
always remained the best of friends." 

Returning to the main subject, North- 
eliflPe's ownership of The Times, it may be 
asked why he should have regarded the ac- 
quisition of this paper as his supreme tri- 
umph. To the average American the term 
" London Times " has a comparatively 
uncertain meaning. Americans know, of 
course, that The Times is a great newspaper, 
but they do not realize that it is far more 
than a newspaper, that it is, in fact, almost 
as much a British institution as the British 
constitution itself. 

The very name, " The Times!' appears to 
strike awe into the hearts of English people, 
who have been taught to regard this paper 
as the representative of public opinion. " I 
shall write to The Times" was once the fa- 
vorite threat of Britons traveling abroad, 
when any incident occurred to disturb their 
equanimity or which was contrary to their 
insular experience. In America if a great 
man has anything to say for publication he 
has himself interviewed or, at least, con- 
trives to convey his views to all the papers 



202 NORTHCLIFFE 

at once. In England he "writes to The 
Times/' 

Why, it may be asked further, is this 
paper so great and powerful, and in what 
respect does it differ from any important 
American journal? The answer is that not 
only is it 130 years old, but from the start 
it has been unique in standing above its con- 
temporaries and coming into close association 
with the British government, and while it 
has remained an independent newspaper, it 
has gained all the power and prestige of an 
official organ. 

The story of The Times is a story of the 
evolution of the English people for a century 
or more. From the beginning of its career 
it has stood for great journalism and abso- 
lute independence in demanding efficiency on 
the part of the government, the very quali- 
ties that in later years, under changed social 
conditions, have given Northcliffe his suc- 
cess. During the course of a century this 
paper has become interwoven with the whole 
fabric of English life. 

The Times, it has been said, is the most 
English thing in the world — English in its 
foibles as well as its strength, English in its 



"THE THUNDERER ' 203 

independence of all excepting its customers, 
English in its strange capacity for accepting 
changes that are most vital and events of the 
highest moment as simple and natm*al con- 
sequences not deserving that much fuss 
should be made over them. The English 
alone revolutionize a suffrage or annex an 
unknown and vast state as part of the busi- 
ness of the year. The Times regards such 
things as the English think of them, with 
pleasure it may be or pain, but without a 
trace of emotion, much less of hysteria. The 
Times has been English in its fortitude 
under trouble, English in its occasional bru- 
tality, more than English in its persistency, 
while occasionally it has displayed unmistak- 
able wrong-headedness. It has even been 
English in its method of expression. 

The Times has linked the British Empire 
together. It forms a tie between Great 
Britain and Canada, Australia, South 
Africa, India, and other British dominions. 
In every quarter of the globe where the 
British flag is flying The Times is to be 
found. The daily and weekly editions are 
always on file at British clubs and libraries, 
to be read by those who wish to keep in 



204 NORTHCLIFFE 

close touch with the mother country. As a 
newspaper the word of The Times is taken 
as authoritative in all parts of the world. 
Whenever important events are occurring, it 
is almost impossible to look through an 
American newspaper without seeing a quo- 
tation from a Times editorial. 

From this it can be easily understood that 
the man who owns the London Times not 
only gains an enviable amount of political 
and social prestige but has the means at his 
disposal of wielding a tremendous power. 
This serves to explain why Lord North- 
cliffe considered that he had reached the 
summit of his ambition when he secured pos- 
session of the world's greatest newspaper. 

To the astonishment of the conservative 
element in England, Northcliffe did not alter 
the tone of The Times or introduce the 
slightest tinge of yellow into the columns of 
the venerable daily. On the contrary, while 
he gradually modernized its appearance and 
put new life into it, he maintained its dig- 
nity and integrity, its authority and power. 
That he intended to follow a conservative 
pohcy was made clear by a statement which 
he made soon after taking possession of the 



"THE THUNDERER" 205 

t— — — — — — — i I ——11 1— — ^—1 M^M I I I 

paper. " It is my highest ambition," he said, 
" to maintain the traditions that The Times 
has held for over a hundred years — traditions 
of great aim and breadth of view with regard 
to literary, scientific, and artistic matters and 
the higher progress of the nations outside of 
England." As the result of adhering to 
this policy The Times, under Northcliffe, has 
gained more prestige than ever. 

No account of The Times would be com- 
plete without an outline of its remarkable 
history, however slight. As a story it is 
full of interest. The paper was started in 
an eventful period — toward the close of the 
eighteenth century, when George the Third 
was King of England, when Louis the Six- 
teenth and Marie Antoinette reigned in 
France, and four years before George Wash- 
ington became President of the United 
States. At that time Belgium was part of 
the Netherlands, Greece part of Turkey, 
Italy a collection of independent states, Ger- 
man unity had hardly any more reality in 
men's minds than a nursery rhyme ; less than 
one page of a textbook told all that was 
known of Africa. The Young Pretender 
was living in Rome, Warren Hastings was 



206 NORTHCLIFFE 

awaiting trial, Lord Howe was the first lord 
of the admiralty, and Sir William Herschel 
was completing his great telescope. Every 
year of that era was so full of events that 
appear remote in modern eyes that it seems 
an anachronism to bring an existing morn- 
ing newspaper on the stage in their com- 
pany. 

It was in 1785 that John Walter, a Lon- 
don bookseller, issued a daily paper which 
he called the Universal Register, changing 
the name three years later to The Times, 
The new daily consisted of a small double 
sheet of coarse paper printed in small type, 
and it sold for threepence (six cents) . There 
were no editorials in it, and none appeared 
for some years afterwards; but in that re- 
spect The Times was not different from other 
London newspapers of the period. Their 
principal features were ponderous special 
articles, correspondence, and hterary contri- 
butions. They contained only a small 
amount of news. 

The Times, however, was diflferent from 
its rivals. In the first place it had a good 
deal of news, considering its limited size, 
and the news, moreover, was well selected. 



"THE THUNDERER" 20T 

It also contained a number of small para- 
graphs, written in lively style, relative to 
events in high life, some of which were almost 
libelous. 

John Walter was an uncompromising 
man — a sturdy Briton, who would not be 
browbeaten by even an English king. He 
had strong convictions, and he did not fear to 
give them expression. He printed news in 
The Times of his day which would now be 
considered as the yellowest of the yellow. 
In fact, the original paper was a yellow 
journal of the purest type, and being out- 
spoken and fearless, and even a little broad 
at times — in an era when newspapers were 
invariably suppressed — it became an immedi- 
ate success. 

Ever alert for news, Walter employed 
men to gather the gossip of the coffee-houses, 
then frequented by men of high standing, 
and these reporters brought in good 
stories. They made a hit with the pub- 
lic, and the circulation of the paper in- 
creased. 

About five years after it was started The 
Times came to grief through its enterprise. 
In those days, to avoid the English libel 



208 NORTHCLIFFE 

laws the newspapers were accustomed to 
skeletonize the names of important people 
when they were mentioned. Apparently the 
editors of that time originated the " missing 
letter " puzzles which were used so profitably 
by English periodicals in after years. Fol- 
lowing this custom, The Times printed a 
spicy item criticizing the Duke of York, one 
of the sons of George the Third, who filled 
most incompetently an important position in 
the British army. " A gentleman of qual- 
ity " had been heard to remark, in the hear- 
ing of a Times reporter, that unless the 
D-k- of Y--k was removed from his high 
command the army would be in a bad 
plight. 

To criticize a member of the royal family 
when George the Third was king was equiva- 
lent to lese-majeste in Germany in these 
days, and there was a heavy penalty for the 
offense. The English public guessed The 
Times' missing letter puzzle at once, and so 
did King George and the duke. As a result 
the audacious publisher was arrested and 
convicted of libel. For this crime he was 
sentenced to pay a fine of <£50 ($250), to 
stand in the pillory for an hour, and to be 



"THE THUNDERER" 209 

imprisoned for a year. He was excused 
from the pillory but was sent to Newgate, 
where he continued to give directions for 
the management of his paper. 

Soon after Walter was sent to prison, two 
other libels appeared in The Times, On 
this occasion the Prince of Wales and the 
Duke of Clarence, two other sons of King 
George, were the victims. Although the 
prince and duke were referred to as the 
"P-— e of W— s" and the "D-k- of 
Cl---n-e," everybody guessed the puzzle and 
Walter was again brought before the court. 
The judge fined him £200 ($1000) more and 
increased the term of imprisonment. He 
paid the fines, and through the influence of 
political friends he was released after serv- 
ing four months. 

When the first John Walter retired from 
business in 1803, at an advanced age, he 
transferred The Times to his son. Although 
the founder had regarded the paper, when 
it was first started, simply as an adjunct to 
his printing establishment, it had already be- 
come the most important part of his business 
and had taken second rank among the jour- 
nals of the day. John Walter the second. 



210 NORTHCLIFFE 

who succeeded his father, concentrated all 
his energies on the paper. 

Like his father, the second Walter was 
fearless and uncompromising, a stern, 
thoughtful, strenuous man of great intellec- 
tual capacity. At a time when the laws 
against newspapers were severe, he boldly 
exposed official inefficiency. He also pub- 
lished accounts of parliamentary proceed- 
ings, although reporters were not allowed to 
take notes. In the early years of the nine- 
teenth century, when Napoleon Bonaparte 
ruled the destinies of France, The Times 
established a wonderful news service, con- 
sidering the conditions in those days. In 
1805 it published one of the best accounts 
of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of 
Nelson. 

When The Times criticized the govern- 
ment of the time for the manner in which 
the war with France was conducted, the gov- 
ernment retaliated by stopping all mail ad- 
dressed to the editor, while newspapers which 
supported the government were not inter- 
fered with. Foreign correspondence and 
other matter thus failed to reach the Times 
office. Walter was then informed that if he 



"THE THUNDERER" 211 

would promise to change the tone of his 
paper and support the government, he could 
have his mail promptly. He refused, and 
made arrangements to get his information 
through channels that the government could 
not reach. Among other plans, a swift cut- 
ter was kept running backwards and for- 
wards across the English Channel, by means 
of which French newspapers, then contra- 
band in England, were surreptitiously ob- 
tained. In this way The Times was enabled 
to supply interesting news to its readers 
and also received the first information of im- 
portant happenings. In 1809, for instance, 
it announced the surrender of Flushing 
twenty-four hours before any other report 
reached London. 

During the war at that time, as in later 
years. The Times was noted for its patriotic 
tone. It was also conspicuous for its bitter 
attacks on the Emperor Napoleon. Dr. 
Stoddart, who afterwards became Sir John 
Stoddart and Governor of Malta, was then 
editor, and he wrote in a most abusive style. 
" Corsican pirate, infamous despot, murder- 
ous ruffian," were among the mildest epithets 
that he used, even when France and Eng- 



212 NORTHCLIFFE 

land were at peace. Napoleon winced so 
much under these attacks that he consulted 
some eminent English counsel to ascertain 
whether he could sue the paper for libel in 
an English court and get a verdict against 
its publishers. He was advised not to bring 
his action. The Times, however (possibly at 
the government's request), moderated its 
attacks. 

In the early days The Times took the 
position it has always since maintained, of 
demanding that the British navy should be 
twice the strength of its most powerful rival. 
During the War of 1812 between Great 
Britain and the United States, its editorials 
severely criticized the government for allow- 
ing British warships to be captured by 
American frigates. It was the first London 
paper to announce the result of the historic 
fight between the Shannon and the Chesa- 
peake in 1813, when the fortunes of war 
were reversed. In 1815 it published the best 
account of the Battle of Waterloo. 

So great was the circulation of The Times 
during the war between Great Britain and 
France, in the time of Napoleon, that the 
mechanical resources of the paper were found 



" THE THUNDERER " 213 

to be inadequate to meet the demand, and al- 
though the presses were kept in operation 
throughout the day the sale of thousands of 
copies was lost. The printing was then done 
by means of hand presses, which turned out 
450 copies an hour at most. The consequence 
was that before three or four thousand copies 
were printed the news would be compara- 
tively old. Walter the second therefore 
turned his attention to improving the print- 
ing plant. 

On the 29th of November, 1814, The 
Times for the first time was printed by 
steam. It was the first occasion in English 
newspaper history that a steam press had 
ever been used. This press, the invention of 
a German named Koenig, was capable of 
printing 1100 copies an hour. Later on an 
improved type of press was substituted which 
printed 2000 an hour. Thereafter improve- 
ments were steadily made that enabled the 
paper to be printed at much greater speed. 
In 1848 the output was 4400 an hour, and 
in 1857, 6000. 

The appearance and make-up of the 
paper also improved in the course of years. 
In 1829 The Times appeared as an eight- 



214 NORTHCLIFFE 

page paper. In 1832 the circulation had 
reached 12,000 daily, and in 1837, when 
Queen Victoria ascended the British throne, 
it had increased to 30,000, an enormous 
figure in those days. 

Walter the second kept pace with the 
progress of the age. Even in the early days 
he made The Times the most authoritative 
journal in the world. He not only intro- 
duced steam printing, but organized a com- 
plete system of foreign correspondence 
(afterwards vastly developed) and insisted 
on the accuracy of every item of news being 
proved before publication. All yellow- jour- 
nal features having been eliminated. The 
Times became a highly respectable news- 
paper, solid and substantial, recognized as a 
power by the government. 

Thomas Barnes, who had been employed 
on the staff as a reporter, succeeded to the 
editorship in 1817 when Dr. Stoddart re- 
tired. He was an able man, and did much 
to improve the news service and the tone of 
the paper. Under his management The 
Times, in 1834, established a system of ex- 
presses covering all parts of Great Britain, 
regardless of expense. There were few 



" THE THUNDERER " 215 

railways at that time, and some marvelous 
beats were made by using relays of horse- 
men when important speeches or famous 
trials were reported. On one occasion, when 
the British prime minister delivered an im- 
portant address in Glasgow, four hundred 
miles from London, The Times express cov- 
ered the distance at a speed of fifteen ^niles 
an hour, an achievement which created a 
great sensation. 

During his editorship Barnes kept a sharp 
watch for unknown writers possessing the 
sort of fitness that would contribute to the 
popularity of the enterprising daily, and 
when possible employed them as salaried 
staff writers or occasional contributors. It 
was at this period that The Times not only 
aimed to be considered the leading journal 
of Europe but was universally admitted to 
have claim to that high distinction. Walter, 
as a rule, insisted on the paper supporting 
the government of the day, a policy which 
has been consistently followed ever since. 

From the time that editorials appeared 
the views of The Times carried much weight, 
and, furthermore, its editorial writers were 
invariably well paid. In the 'twenties the 



216 NORTHCLIFFE 

position of chief editorial writer was filled 
by Captain Sterling, well known as an au- 
thority on politics. It was Sterling who 
originated the term " Thunderer," as ap- 
plied to The Times, In one of his editorials 
he remarked: " We thundered forth the other 
day an article on the subject of — " Other 
London papers, referring to this expression, 
called The Times " The Thunderer." The 
term is now almost obsolete in England, but 
in this country, strangely enough, it has sur- 
vived and is in common use. 

It was in the 'thirties that The Times 
excited much comment by its high rates of 
remuneration for special articles. At that 
time the paper conducted a crusade against 
the election of Alderman Harmer as Lord 
Mayor of London, on the ground that he 
was owner of the Weekly Dispatch^ which 
printed articles from a well-known radical 
writer of the time, who was not only an in- 
fidel but blasphemous. Ten special articles 
on this subject were sent to The Times by 
an outside contributor, and when the crusade 
proved successful he received a check for 
£200 ($1000), or £20 ($100) for each 
article of the average length of a column — 



"THE THUNDERER" 217 

a wonderful rate for those days. It estab- 
lished a precedent, however, and since then 
the paper has been noted for its high rate 
of payment to the writers of special articles. 

In 1837, when the Victorian age began in 
England, The Times had recently cele- 
brated the first half century of its exist- 
ence. During that time the world had 
undergone a complete change. The French 
Revolution had come and gone, the wars 
of Napoleon and the modernizing of Eu- 
rope belonged to the past, democracy had 
arisen, tyrannical governments had been 
overturned, and the United States had be- 
come a great nation. In the 'thirties the 
Reform Bill was passed, which not only 
gave the British people a broad measure of 
liberty, but removed restrictions on the press, 
while every facility was given for the report- 
ing of parliamentary debates. From the 
early days The Times had made a specialty 
of parhamentary reporting, and in the mid- 
dle of the last century it had eighteen par- 
liamentary reporters, including two sunmiary 
writers. 

The third John Walter, who succeeded to 
the ownership of the paper on the death of 



218 NORTHCLIFFE 

his father in 1847, continued the family 
record of able journalism. At that time 
Barnes had retired as editor, having been 
succeeded in 1841 by the greatest editor The 
Times ever had, John Thaddeus Delane, who 
ruled the destinies of the great daily until 
1877. Under his direction it gained remark- 
able power, not only exercising an enormous 
influence in England, but even attracting 
the attention of foreign monarchs and their 
prime ministers. During the editorship of 
Barnes, Lord Durham called at The Times 
office one day on behalf of King Leopold of 
Belgium, whose complaints against the paper 
had embarrassed the British ministry. In 
1859, Napoleon the Third was the subject 
of editorial attacks, which aroused so much 
resentment in France that Lord Palmerston 
requested the paper, for public reasons, to 
moderate its tone. Similar cases have been 
recorded in which the influence of The Times 
was recognized by foreign governments. 

Delane had been a close friend of the 
third Walter at Oxford. He was a man of 
good family, of high attainments, of extraor- 
dinary grip, and a born journalist. He was 
at once courted by fashionable society and 



"THE THUNDERER" 219 

politicians, and from his influence he ob- 
tained news that no other London paper 
could get. His social position was remark- 
able. He was the intimate friend of Lord 
Palmerston and other statesmen, and his 
sources of information were innumerable. 
Through his high position he induced men 
of eminence, such as Benjamin Disraeli, Sir 
WiUiam Harcourt, and George Grote, the 
historian of Greece, to write for The Times. 
He also had wonderful skill in selecting men 
for his staff and getting the best work from 
them. 

For over thirty years Delane dined out 
every night in fashionable society, meeting 
the leading people of England, ever honored, 
ever feared ; and at eleven o'clock every night 
he was at his desk in The Times oflice, dash- 
ing off brilliant editorials with an old-fash- 
ioned quill pen and laying down the law 
with an authority that no one dared ques- 
tion. In his day the " Thunderer " literally 
formed English public opinion. 

The great editor was the best-informed 
man in England. Even Disraeli, when 
prime minister, openly sought his advice and 
support. By most politicians he was 



220 NORTHCLIFFE 

dreaded. When the Earl of Beaconsfield, 
in 1876, asked Lord Granville what he 
thought of Delane, the reply was : " I think 
I would prefer not to answer until Delane 
is dead." 

The dramatic and tragic history of The 
Times was imbued with the romantic under 
Delane. When, for instance, the decision 
of the Peel ministry on the Corn Law was 
announced exclusively in the paper in 1842, 
it was instantly suspected that a ministerial 
secret of high importance had been betrayed 
by one of the most fascinating women of the 
period, and George Meredith has made this 
incident the dramatic climax of his thrilling 
story, "Diana of the Crossways." As a 
matter of fact, however. The Times was used 
by the ministry itself as the most effective 
medium for breaking the news to the public. 
Delane has figured in other novels, includ- 
ing Anthony TroUope's great story, " The 
Warden." 

Like its famous editor. The Times has had 
a conspicuous place in English Eterature. 
Charles Dickens, Thackeray, and a number 
of other writers have made the great daily 
the subject of eulogy. In a speech in Par- 



"THE THUNDERER" 221 

liament on one occasion, Bulwer Lytton said : 
" If I desired to leave to remote posterity- 
some memorial of existing British civiliza- 
tion, I would prefer not our docks nor our 
railways nor our public buildings, not even 
the palace in which we hold our sittings — I 
would prefer a file of The Times," 

While The Times has never posed as a 
journal with a particular mission, political, 
social, moral, or intellectual, it has never 
failed to voice public opinion and expose 
whatever needed to be exposed. During its 
early career it confined itself to being solely 
a purveyor of news, aiming to get ahead of 
its competitors and contriving to outdistance 
the government. Later on its opinion had 
weight. 

In the 'fifties The Times exposed the 
Crimean War scandals, when William H. 
Russell, one of its greatest correspondents, 
sent thrilling descriptions of the privations 
and hardships of the British troops, due to 
criminal negligence in the commissariat. 
During the American Civil War, Russell 
again represented the paper, but owing to 
his partiality for the South and his criticisms 
of the North, especially after the Battle of 



222 NORTHCLIFFE 

Bull Run, he was recalled. In all the wars 
since that time, The Times' news from the 
front has been distinguished for its accuracy 
as well as its speed in reaching the public. 

From the start The Times was fortunate 
in having the most able editors of the day. 
Delane was succeeded in 1877 by his assist- 
ant Chenery, and he, in turn, was succeeded 
by his assistant Buckle, who filled the edi- 
torial post in recent years. The Times was 
equally fortunate in its selection of perma- 
nent correspondents, among whom one of 
the best known was de Blowitz, who repre- 
sented the paper in Paris for many years. 
He had the entree at most of the European 
courts, and his beats were innumerable, 
notably during the Franco-Prussian War 
and the years of reconstruction that fol- 
lowed. 

After a century of achievement. The 
Times, in 1889, received the greatest blow it 
had ever sustained, when the Piggott for- 
geries ended in the utter failure of the paper 
to prove its case against Charles Stewart 
Parnell, and were followed by the tragedy of 
Piggott's suicide. Such a blow to prestige 
would have crushed any other paper, but the 



"THE THUNDERER" 223 

centenarian daily survived the storm. It 
was shortly after this episode that the third 
John Walter died, far advanced in years, 
and was succeeded by a fourth Walter, who, 
with other members of the family, controlled 
The Times until it was acquired by Lord 
Northcliffe. 

Under its present owner this famous news- 
paper has not only gained more influence 
than it possessed in former years, but it is 
better managed. With increased energy 
and resources a remarkable improvement in 
the technique of production and presentation 
has been effected, and with this is combined 
a wide knowledge of political events at home 
and abroad, unwavering independence, and 
measured sanity. The foreign service of 
The Times is unrivaled, its special articles on 
political and social happenings in all coun- 
tries are unsurpassed, while its impartiality 
in throwing open its correspondence columns 
to argimients on all sides of public questions 
makes the paper a national forum. As a 
national journal The Times still remains 
without a peer. It speaks for England as 
no other paper speaks. 

In the period of one hundred and thirty 



224 NORTHCLIFFE 

years that has elapsed since it was started, 
not only has the paper undergone a remark- 
able development in size and appearance, but 
its machinery of production has kept pace 
with this evolution. Instead of the printing 
plant turning out 2000 copies an hour, — the 
record figure in the early days, — the great 
Hoe presses are able to print over 100,000 
copies an hour. The circulation of The 
Times has also shown a corresponding 
growth, and while it is not as large as that 
of some of the other London dailies, yet the 
fact that the paper circulates chiefly among 
people of the well-to-do classes, and also has 
a world-wide circulation, enables it to com- 
mand higher advertising rates than any other 
English newspaper. 

One of the early numbers of The Times 
contained thirty-seven small advertisements, 
for which extremely low rates were prob- 
ably charged. Every decade since then, how- 
ever, has witnessed a marked increase in 
advertising space and a corresponding in- 
crease in advertising rates. From the start 
patent medicine advertisements were refused, 
and this rule has always been maintained. 
At the present time the advertising profits 



" THE THUNDERER " 225 

are unusually large and would assuredly 
surprise the early Walters, who could never 
have dreamed what the future was destined 
to bring forth. 

The progress of the editorial branch of 
the paper has been fully as impressive as the 
growth of the business departments. As al- 
ready mentioned, the news service, domestic 
and foreign, is still unsurpassed. In the 
early days The Times secured the first news 
by means of sailing boats and horsemen. It 
has witnessed the evolution of railways, 
steamships, the telegraph, the cable, the tele- 
phone, wireless telegraphy, and aeroplanes, 
all of which figure in its news beats at the 
present time. 

Under the direction of Lord Northcliffe, 
The Times maintains its precedence in the 
newspaper world, and although not an offi- 
cial organ its representatives are supposed 
to have the entree in all departments of the 
government and to receive the first news of 
any important political event. It is, more- 
over, still recognized as the most suitable 
medium for official announcements. As an 
instance of this, it may be mentioned that a 
few years after Lord Northcliffe took pos- 



226 NORTHCLIFFE 

session of the paper, Mr. Asquith, then prime 
minister, broke all precedents by sending it 
an interview, which was the first time that a 
British premier had ever done such a thing. 
Although the interview appeared exclusively 
in the highly respectable Times, the ultra- 
conservatives in England made a great out- 
cry, declaring that such a method of publicity 
was unbecoming to the head of the govern- 
ment. 

To-day, as in the beginning, The Times 
is sold for threepence. A few years ago 
Lord Northcliffe caused a sensation by re- 
ducing the price to a penny, the first time 
such a reduction had been made in the his- 
tory of the paper. Since the beginning of 
the war, however, the rising value of white 
paper and the increased cost of production 
have necessitated a return to the former 
price. 

The evolution of The Times is strikingly 
portrayed by the building in which the paper 
is produced. It is a somber, red-brick struc- 
ture, made up of additions, which start from 
an unpretentious section erected in the mid- 
dle of the last century, spread round what 
is called Printing House Square, and which^ 




a 






4» 



O 



o 






I 



"THE THUNDERER" 227 

in comparatively modern style, have a front- 
age on Queen Victoria Street, where the 
principal entrance is situated. In the older 
parts of the building there is a maze of cor- 
ridors and staircases in which a visitor can 
easily get lost. It was the old part of the 
Times Building, in Printing House Square, 
that the youthful Alfred Harmsworth de- 
scribed as " a great British institution, typi- 
cal of John Bull's conservatism," when he 
predicted that he might some day own the 
famous newspaper. 

Impressive and somber outside, a great air 
of mystery pervades the Times ofBce itself. 
Callers seldom are permitted to see the edi- 
tor. Inquiries are answered by uniformed 
messengers, usually men of middle age, the 
personification of dignity, silence, and mys- 
tery. In one of the corridors of the central 
wing there is a mahogany door inscribed 
" Lord Northchife," which gives entrance to 
the office of the owner. It is an impressive 
sanctum, quiet and restful, with antique fit- 
tings, and a heavy Georgian mantelpiece at 
one end. From the windows can be seen the 
huge grey and white dome of St. Paul's. 
Here Northcliflfe, conserving his energies by 



228 NORTHCLIFFE 

his separation from noise and irritation, 
meets his editors and receives important 
visitors. 

Adjoining this ofBce is a large, square, 
high-pitched chamber known as the " council 
room," and here the owner confers with his 
editorial staff. Since the beginning of the 
war this apartment has become almost a 
part of the British government. The " con- 
ference," essentially an American newspaper 
institution which Northcliffe introduced into 
England, is held in this room every afternoon 
at a quarter to Bve. An American writer 
who was present at one of these gatherings 
has thus described the scene : " Around an 
octagonal table sit the men who make The 
Times and who also make history. At the 
head sits Geoffrey Robinson, the editor, with 
Northcliffe in the third seat from him. It 
is really a cabinet meeting, for often The 
Times gets later news than does the govern- 
ment itself. At these meetings, especially 
those held in crucial hours, you see North- 
cliffe in action. It is a study in contrasts to 
watch him. He crouches in his chair, an 
intent listener, or else leans forward as the 
gharp, pithy, and pointed interrogator. With 



"THE THUNDERER" 229 

a single question at an expert he gets at the 
heart of the whole business." 

Such is life at the office of The Times, 
which, as already explained, is not only a 
newspaper but a British institution. In 
fact, employment on the great daily is re- 
garded by many English people in the higher 
walks of life as equivalent to employment 
under government. Many fathers have en- 
deavored to find careers for their sons by 
securing places for them in Printing House 
Square in preference to the diplomatic serv- 
ice. There is always a waiting list of appli- 
cants for positions, sometimes five or six 
years elapsing before an important place is 
filled. It is said that the editor of a London 
newspaper once received a letter from The 
Times stating that he had been appointed 
to a modest position at a small salary, his 
application having been filed eighteen years 
before. 

While The Times to-day leads, in influ- 
ence and importance, as the representative 
of British public opinion, it has maintained 
its popularity as the journal of the educated 
classes, all of which is in striking contrast 
with its humble beginning. In reviewing 



230 NORTHCLIFFE 

the developments of a century or more, per- 
haps the most astonishing of all is the fact 
that a family which, originally, was hardly 
ranked as belonging to the middle class, 
should have seized and kept for over a hun- 
dred years the function of expressing public 
opinion in England, should have made of 
a compound of reports and comments a 
powerful factor in the government of an 
empire that, during that time, has never 
ceased to grow, and should have transformed 
a paper which they neither directed nor 
edited, although they governed it, into the 
leading newspaper of the world. The con- 
tinuous existence of any kind of newspaper 
is a species of miracle, but in the case of 
The Times it is unparalleled. 

After a century or more, and the meeting 
of boundless competition. The Times still 
remains so completely the first English jour- 
nal that no Englishman of position ever 
thinks of quoting any other paper. Wher- 
ever he may be, it is to this paper that he 
sends the announcement of his marriage or 
of his child's death. The journal of the 
best elements of English society. The Times 
has always been conducted on a high plane. 



"THE THUNDERER" 231 

ever independent and courageous, and con- 
sistently representing the dignity, secrecy, 
and omniscience of the British press. These 
have been its characteristics for over a cen- 
tury, and they have placed it in the position 
it holds to-day, in which it is supposed to 
wield a power second only to that of the 
English throne. 

Such is the newspaper which Lord North- 
cHffe acquired as the greatest prize of his 
career, and through which he has become an 
increasing power in the pohtical and social 
life of Great Britain. 



VIII 
NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 

Having followed the career of Lord 
Northcliffe from his unpretentious begin- 
ning as an ambitious youth, Alfred Harms- 
worth, to his highest point of achievement 
as owner of The Times, the reader is likely 
to wonder how the man himself has de- 
veloped in the course of thirty years. The 
question may be asked. What sort of a 
man is this newspaper magnate at the pres- 
ent time? 

As a succinct answer, it may be stated 
that while the years have naturally changed 
the appearance of Lord Northcliffe, yet he 
has lost none of the enthusiasm and love of 
hard work that were his characteristics in 
earlier days. He is still the chief inspira- 
tion and motive force of his periodicals and 
newspapers, with their millions of readers. 

Physically, Lord Northcliffe fulfills the 
picture of a big man. He is powerfully 

232 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 233 

built, rather thick set, and somewhat under 
six feet in height. His rather florid face is 
clean shaven. His well-shaped, massive 
head and strong jaw combine the qualities 
of thoughtfulness and combativeness, and 
when in repose the head is thrust slightly- 
forward. His steel-grey eyes are ever alert. 

He gives one the instant impression of 
possessing an enormous amount of vitahty 
and reserve force, courage, capacity, imagi- 
nation, and the ability to concentrate. Al- 
though he is fifty-two years old, it is difficult 
to guess his age from his appearance, for 
he is one of those unusual men who seem to 
be ageless, and whose actual age, in point of 
years, is of secondary importance. He is 
the embodiment of health. His muscles are 
as hard as iron, and he takes care of himself 
like an athlete in training. 

In his youthful days Northcliffe was said 
to have some resemblance to Napoleon, and 
even now his resemblance to the Emperor is 
striking. The profile of Northcliffe is much 
the same as that of Napoleon in the prime 
of hfe. There are the same characteristics, 
the finely shaped nose, the determined chin, 
and the same lock of hair straying negli- 



234 NORTHCLIFFE 

gently over the high forehead, which have 
been made famiUar the world over by De la 
Roche's celebrated snuffbox portrait of Na- 
poleon. Other resemblances between the 
two men have been noted, — their vivacity, 
their eager, questioning manner, their curi- 
osity about all new inventions, their versa- 
tility, determination, and rapidity of 
thought, the accuracy of their observations, 
and their fondness for travel and compari- 
son. The energy and quickness to see and 
act, the resolute determination to push an 
enterprise to success, which made Napoleon 
famous — those are the quahties that have 
landed Northchffe, in an astonishingly brief 
period, on the pinnacle of success. 

Northcliffe has a multiple personality. In 
certain moods he is as tender as a woman, 
with an almost feminine sense of kindliness 
and sympathy, but in directing his big 
moves or shaping some public policy he is 
unyielding and ruthless. Like Roosevelt, 
he has a magnetism that dominates any 
gathering in which he may be found. 

In a conversation with him on serious 
topics one perceives at once that the bent of 
his mind is toward great affairs, and his 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 235 

way of handling them has in it more of the 
statesman than of the journahst. His man- 
ner is simple, direct, and sincere, his thought 
original, individual, and far reaching. His 
concentration as a thinker is shown in his 
manner of speaking. He uses short sen- 
tences and goes straight to the point with- 
out unnecessary circumlocution. His voice 
is low, pleasant, and cultivated. He uses 
good English and occasionally employs some 
apt American term. 

Northcliffe made his way in the world 
through ignoring the conventional and strik- 
ing out on new lines. This disregard of 
the commonplace is shown in his dress. In 
summer and winter he invariably wears an 
unstarched shirt with a soft collar, and a 
subdued red tie, although such an attire is 
not considered the best form in England. 
He prefers comfort to good form, however, 
and is therefore sensible enough to defy 
convention. 

In his working methods Northcliffe is a 
lover of schedule and promptness. His way 
of doing business is by means of a system 
of appointments in which a certain number 
of minutes are devoted to certain propo- 



236 NORTHCLIFFE 

sitions, and the discussions are sped up so 
briskly that the day's work involves no 
slack. Like most successful men, he always 
finds time for everything. He is the per- 
sonification of punctuality. When he says 
that he will see you he means that you are 
to be there when the clock is striking the 
hour. This orderliness marks all his habits. 
It represents a high degree of concentration 
in business, and it also provides time for 
home life, quiet study of big questions, exer- 
cise, and travel. 

Northcliffe has a large staff of secretaries 
and experts in various branches of editing 
and pubhshing, and these are called into 
frequent consultation. Sometimes he has 
quite a gathering of them at one of his 
country houses in the summer time, when 
all sorts of business matters are discussed. 
He has three offices in London, — one in the 
Times Building, one in Carmelite House, 
and another in Fleetway House. He is 
generally to be found at one of these during 
working hours. As in former years, he 
directs everything, leaving the execution to 
subordinates, and does not waste time on 
petty details. When he works he brings 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 237 

all his energy into play. He has been called 
a stern taskmaster by some of his English 
critics, but even if that be true, it is also 
a fact that he demands more of himself 
than of any of his subordinates. Possess- 
ing colossal energy, he regards it as a 
treasure, and while he will spend it with 
reckless prodigality to accompUsh definite 
aims, he will not dissipate it for mere 
pleasure. 

A man who is closely enough associated 
with Northcliffe to know his impulses says 
that one of the causes of his decision to agi- 
tate for the overthrow of a recent British 
prime minister was the statesman's waste of 
vitality at formal dinners, which rendered 
him incapable of acting masterfully on im- 
portant problems of the day. In marked 
contrast to this, Northcliflfe reserves his 
energy for useful purposes. Sir Thomas 
Lipton, it may be added, has a motto hang- 
ing over his desk in his London office, which 
reads : " Work is my fun." That might be 
Northcliffe's maxim, too, for he is undoubt- 
edly the most energetic worker in England. 

Before the average Englishman is out of 
his morning tub, Northcliffe has done some 



238 NORTHCLIFFE 

hours' work. He rises at five o'clock in 
the morning in the summer time and at six 
in the winter. During most of the year his 
working day is arranged as follows: Rising 
at five, he has a cup of coffee at quarter- 
past five and begins work at half -past. At 
that time all the London morning news- 
papers, including his own, are brought to 
him for inspection. He glances through 
every column in order to learn what is go- 
ing on in the world, and also to see what 
rival papers are doing. Incidentally he 
compares them with his own papers. While 
reading, he jots down notes and criticisms 
on everything, from typesetting to sugges- 
tions which may be useful to his editors. 
These notes are embodied in letters to his 
staff, which are written later in the day. 

His vast store of energy enables him to 
handle an immense amount of material con- 
nected with the various subjects in which 
he is particularly interested. Yet so great 
is his power of concentration that he imme- 
diately reduces a myriad of petty details 
to definite impressions tersely expressed. 
Oftentimes he makes a criticism of one of 
his papers in a single word written on the 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 239 

front page of a copy that is sent to the 
editor. 

Even during breakfast he gives orders to 
one of his secretaries, dictates important let- 
ters, and occasionally telephones. His mid- 
day meal is usually devoted to conferences 
upon important matters with people who 
have been asked to luncheon for that pur- 
pose. The business of the day is supposed 
to end at half -past seven in the evening, but 
during war time conversation invariably 
drifts to topics connected with work. Re- 
tiring at ten o'clock, Northcliffe is read to 
for fifteen minutes, and is asleep by half- 
past ten. Six and a half hours of sleep 
suffice. Then at five o'clock he is at work 
again. The war has not interfered with 
this routine, which goes on week days and 
Sundays and is only interrupted by an 
afternoon's golf, an occasional visit to the 
front, or a trip to l^ew York. 

AH those who have come in contact with 
Northcliffe receive the impression of tre- 
mendous reserve force and dynamic aggres- 
siveness lying alertly latent, and subsequent 
meetings emphasize this impression. To 
one visitor he seemed to be like a caged lion, 



240 NORTHCLIFFE 

not because he roared, for roar he never 
does, but because it seemed as if his pent-up 
energy were trying to break through in- 
visible bars that intervened between him 
and the immediate attainment of a multi- 
tude of purposes. Walking back and forth 
in a restricted alcove, he paused suddenly 
from time to time to speak sharply and 
briefly. Thus he settled three or four vital 
matters every minute. As soon as there 
was an instant's delay, one saw again the 
caged-lion phase. 

Yet all observers agree that Northcliffe 
never gets flustered or beyond himself. It 
is noticeable that whenever an atmosphere 
of flurry surrounds him, it is caused entirely 
by office boys, clerks, and other one-cylinder 
subordinates, puffing and tearing to keep 
up with his smooth-running two-hundred- 
horsepower engine. It is impossible to enter 
a room where he is working and not be 
drawn irresistibly into activity. One of his 
guests at a country house, after greetings 
were exchanged, withdrew to a corner of 
the work room, but within a minute he had 
been dragged out and set to correcting 
the proof of an article which Northcliffe 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 241 

had written about the war. When that was 
finished he was given a cablegram to an 
American newspaper to revise. 

In his letter writing Northcliffe's char- 
acteristics shine brilliantly forth. Despite 
the fact that the letters are dictated, and 
are typewritten by competent secretaries, 
he reads every one slowly and carefully be- 
fore signing it. In a batch of letters that 
he disposed of while a visitor was present, he 
altered only a single word, which he crossed 
out and replaced with a synonym. In al- 
most every third letter, however, he under- 
scored a clause or sentence. Each letter 
was typewritten upon a single, medium-size 
sheet of blue paper with " The Times " en- 
graved at the top, and consisted of only a 
few lines. The lines were single spaced, 
and in most cases were in one paragraph. 
This applied even to a letter to the prime 
minister which touched upon three impor- 
tant and separate topics. There was no 
waste of words, no use of such bromides as 
" I have received your letter," and never 
the address of the recipient. The letters 
began with " Dear So-and-So " and were 
signed in the lower right-hand corner, usu- 



242 NORTHCLIFFE 

ally in pencil, with the one word " North- 
cliflFe " written at an oblique angle mounting 
toward the right. 

Even for a genius in journalism North- 
cliffe is an amazingly prolific writer of good 
stuff, throwing off signed interviews, arti- 
cles, and essays with the speed of a rotary 
plow. In the early days of his newspaper 
ownership he occasionally wrote editorials 
and other copy, and even in these days he 
finds time to write many special articles. 
He writes in the style in which he would 
talk out of a buoyant and busy mind, dic- 
tating clearly and rapidly, his copy need- 
ing very little correction. 

As in his earlier years, Northcliffe is still 
a believer in the vigor and optimism of 
youth. Consequently, in visiting his busi- 
ness establishments one is impressed by the 
youthfulness of the men who hold important 
positions. The editor of The Times is 
barely forty, and none of the directors of 
the Amalgamated Press are over middle 
age. That is part of the Northcliffe sys- 
tem. Having managed a great business 
himself before he was thirty, he knows the 
value of the strength and resourcefulness 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 243 



which accompany fruitful years. The first 
two questions that he hurls at any appUcant 
for employment are: "How old are you?" 
and " What can you do? " 

With all his mercilessness toward ineffi- 
cients and incompetents, it is agreed by 
nearly all who have been employed by 
Northchffe that he is a delightful man to 
work with. In spite of his vast and wide- 
spread interests he will come into the re- 
porters' room of the Daily Mail, sit on the 
edge of a table, smoke cigarettes, and talk 
to the men as if he were one of themselves. 
He likes them and they like him. 

Frank Dilnot, a former Daily Mail cor- 
respondent, relates in his book on Lloyd 
George an incident of a young writer who 
was sent to investigate a series of happen- 
ings in a Midland town, but was rather 
badly hoaxed and was responsible for a good 
deal of ridicule directed against the paper. 
This, of course, is a deadly sin for a news- 
paperman, and the chiefs of the office were 
naturally severe about the matter. The 
writer in question, feeling that his career 
on the paper was over, went out of the office 
to lunch, and as bad luck would have it en- 



244 NORTHCLIFFE 

countered Northeliffe's automobile drawing 
up at the entrance. He knew that " Al- 
fred," as Northcliffe is familiarly called, 
would be fuming and was the last man on 
earth whom it was desirable to meet in such 
a mood. The young fellow braced himself 
for the attack as Northcliffe beckoned him 
forward. " What is this I hear? " exclaimed 
the newspaper owner. " You have had your 
leg pulled, haven't you? Don't take it too 
much to heart. We all get deceived some- 
times. I have had my leg pulled before 
now. It's annoying, but don't worry about 
it." 

Northcliife frequently goes through his 
editorial departments, making the acquaint- 
ance of new men and exchanging a few 
sentences of conversation with the estab- 
lished members of the staff. Once he 
stopped before the desk of a junior sub- 
editor whom he had never seen before and 
inquired: "How long have you been with 
me?" 

" About three months," was the reply. 

" How are you getting on? Do you Uke 
the work? Do you find it easy to get into 
our ways? " 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 245 



5> 



" I like it very much.' 

" How much money are you getting? 

" Five pounds a week." 

"Are you quite satisfied?" 

" Perfectly satisfied, thank you." 

"Well, you must remember this, that I 
want no one on my staff who is a perfectly 
satisfied man with a salary of five pounds a 
week." 

Members of any of the staffs who break 
down are, when necessary, sent to recupera- 
tive climates, their full salary and expenses 
being paid until they recover. One of the 
assistant editors who became afflicted with a 
lingering malady was ill for three years be- 
fore he died, but during that time he received 
his salary, while his medical expenses also 
were paid. Subsequently Northcliffe in- 
vested a considerable sum of money for the 
maintenance of his widow. This, however, 
is but one instance of Northcliflfe's charities, 
which are practically unending. His pri- 
vate pension list, which is very large, not 
only benefits the widows of deceased mem- 
bers of his staff, but includes the names of 
old and deserving workers who were with 
him in the days of his early struggles. To 



246 NORTHCLIFFE 

what extent these charities reach no one 
knows, for he never lets his right hand 
know what his left hand does. 

To the older of his men NorthclifTe to- 
day is still affectionately known as " Al- 
fred." He has a sense of humor, often 
ironical, and likes to send little jabs that 
will keep his employees up to the mark. 
Just before the war began, for example, he 
sent to some of his chiefs an illustration of 
a beehive surrounded with bees, which con- 
veyed the hint, " Be busy." One of the spe- 
cial writers of the Daily Mail, the oldest in 
point of service, received one day from 
Northcliffe a magnificent gold-mounted 
fountain pen. As the journalist in question 
was rather inclined to take his ease when- 
ever opportunity offered, he saw the point 
at once. In showing his gift to a friend, 
later on, he remarked : " Here's a nice gift 
from Alfred. Evidently he wants me to do 
some writing." " Well, have you done 
any? " asked the friend. " Indeed, I have," 
was the reply, " IVe just made out two 
nice big expense accounts with my gold- 
mounted pen." 

In his office in the queer red-brick build- 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 247 

ing which houses The Times, close by the 
Thames with its grey fogs and orange- 
colored mists, Northcliffe has a comfort- 
able resting place, a sort of exaggerated 
Morris chair, and in this he reclines 
rather than sits. Yet he manages to ar- 
range matters with his visitors on a basis 
of intimacy sufficient to enable him to 
recline without any one feeling ill at 
ease. It is part of his system of conserving 
energy. 

His dynamic force, as already observed, 
impresses every visitor who has the privilege 
of seeing him in action. Will Irwin, the 
American correspondent, who visited the 
Times office, observed that while Northcliffe 
greeted him with an approved Enghsh ac- 
cent, its staccato style was almost American 
in its nervous force. 

" I noticed Northchffe's slight stoop, 
which is characteristic," says Irwin. " It 
does not suggest midnight hours over a 
desk, but a kind of general peering curi- 
osity about life. His smooth-shaven face 
was in repose when I caught sight of it 
first. It looked able and massive. It was 
crowned with a thatch of brownish hair. 



248 NORTHCLIFFE 

and there was about it a kind of propor- 
tion and comeliness. As he advanced 
toward me his prominent, broad, and rest- 
less eye glanced sharply as he took me by 
the hand. I can't recall the color of that 
eye, for I was too much absorbed in its 
expression of keen, live interest in every- 
thing. He settled in an easy chair, rang 
for tea, and started to talk. When I first 
glimpsed his face I thought it massive. In 
conversation it became boyish. His sharp, 
straight nose, his crisp mouth, were as points 
of light." 

Irwin continues: "When I entered the 
room Northcliffe had just settled an im- 
portant point of policy for the Daily Mail, 
Then his secretary announced the editor of 
a comic weekly, one of the papers that he 
controls. Before the editor could reach the 
desk Northcliffe had the latest copy of the 
comic spread out before him and started 
the conversation. 

" * Smith, sit down,' he began. ' Why 
don't you put paunches on those policemen? 
The public expects comic policemen to be 
fat. And the persecuted husband must al- 
ways be thin. That fellow doesn't look hen- 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 249 

pecked; he looks as if she had fed him well. 
Be careful or we shall get too refined.' 

" With that joke he dismissed the editor 
of the comic weekly, laughing. The next 
visitor was one of the editors of the Daily 
Mail, Again Northcliffe was deep in con- 
versation before the visitor had taken a seat. 

" ' Excellent article on page three,' he 
said; 'I like the way it runs on from one 
thing to another. But it should have been 
on the editorial page. There is too little 
news to it. People look for news on page 
three.' On another page of the current 
Daily Mail Northcliffe or his secretary had 
marked an item from a continental corre- 
spondent. 

" ' That is good,' he said. * That man can 
write. Watch him.' 

" There entered presently the head of one 
of the mechanical departments. Something 
had gone wrong with a rotary press. 
Northcliffe took this occasion to inquire into 
the state of the presses in general. Number 
three was below her guaranteed run the last 
time he had heard from her. Had they 
found out yet what was the matter? How 
was the flying paster working? 



250 NORTHCLIFFE 

" Out of this talk grew the impression 
that Northchffe knew every machine in. the 
shop, with its powers and its latest improve- 
ments. And he seemed to take as much 
delight in his knowledge of his machinery 
as in his understanding of European politics. 

" In fact, when the session was done and 
he looked across at me with that peering, 
searching glance of his, I felt the Celt in 
him coming to the surface. ' Oh, man, am I 
no a bonny fighter? ' quoth Alan Beck in 
his moment of triumph to David Balfour. 
' My boy, do I not know this business ? ' 
Northcliffe seemed to say." 

As explained in previous chapters, North- 
cliffe is a strong believer in the maxim that 
an efficient laborer is worthy of his hire. 
" Make your employees contented," is his 
rule. Adequate compensation, he is con- 
vinced, is the secret of contentment, and he 
has found that it is a good investment. Like 
most successful employers he is deeply inter- 
ested in those who work for him. On busy 
mornings, when it is impossible for him to 
glance through all his personal mail, he has 
been heard to remark: "Run through it 
quickly and see if there are any letters from 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 251 

my work people." They always receive his 
attention. 

Personahty, it has been remarked, is a 
very mysterious thing. A man cannot al- 
ways be estimated by what he does. In 
Lord Northcliife's case a very good idea of 
him can be formed from what he says. 
When interviewed he invariably speaks to 
the point and says something that is worth 
recording. He is, in fact, one of those for- 
tunate people who talk well. In one of his 
recent chats he discussed success in hfe and 
the best means to attain it. His own suc- 
cess he largely attributes to concentration, 
the instincts with which he was born, and 
good health. 

" A good physical condition," he observed, 
" is fundamental. Then comes regular liv- 
ing. In my own case I manage my life, as 
far as possible, with machine-like regularity. 
I have regular hours set apart for exercise 
and fresh air. Most business men spend too 
much time at their desks, thus losing their 
sense of proportion, their correct perspec- 
tive, and become buried in details. I have 
to leave England to see my business in its 
true perspective. I do not follow the de- 



252 NORTHCLIFFE 

tails of my affairs, but I know them. Then 
I put them into the hands of men I can 
trust. My faculty for selecting the right 
men is, of course, one of my most valuable 
assets. I made some serious mistakes in 
this respect when I was younger, but none 
in late years. I select men entirely on my 
own judgment, without reference to their 
past records. Other things being equal, I 
beheve that university men are the best." 
The last remark is interesting because Lord 
Northcliffe is not a university man. 

On another occasion, the great publisher 
again emphasized the importance of concen- 
tration as the secret of success. " Men 
fail," he said, " because they dissipate their 
energies in pleasure or in meddhng with a 
dozen different concerns. I have centered 
myself on one thing, journalism. That is 
my business, my recreation, my all. To 
concentration, of course, must be added 
other essential traits, but that alone will ac- 
complish a great deal. As to the other 
quaUties which bring success, I should place 
first: industry, self -culture, cheerfulness, 
self-reliance, determination, confidence, in- 
itiative, ambition, and optimism. Then 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 253 

come foresight, leadership, ability to select 
and inspire, great mental and physical 
stamina, superior judgment, willingness to 
incur big risks, personal magnetism, dy- 
namic force, imagination, and common sense. 
Above all things, avoid worry, for that has 
killed more people than hard work ever 
killed." 

In discussing his method of selecting effi- 
cient subordinates Lord Northcliffe said: 
" In our own case we place great value on 
early training. We are even particular 
about hiring our office boys, who may 
eventually become department managers. 
In Napoleon's army every private, figura- 
tively speaking, had a marshal's baton in his 
knapsack, and all our young men, on the 
same principle, are encouraged to be am- 
bitious. Their work speaks for itself, and 
that enables us to make judicious selections 
when important places have to be filled." 

When anxious fathers come to the famous 
journalist and ask him how their sons should 
make a start as newspapermen, he invari- 
ably says : " The first essential is the best 
possible education, including a knowledge 
of French and Spanish, then a period of 



254 NORTHCLIFFE 

initiation in a newspaper ofBce in a small 
town." Such advice is eminently practical, 
for the beginner who finds employment in 
the office of a small-town daily undoubtedly 
gets a better insight into newspaper making 
than the young man who starts out as a cub 
reporter on a newspaper in a large city. 

As the result of his own experience, Lord 
Northchffe has expressed the following 
opinion in regard to some other requisites 
for success in journalism and the publishing 
business: " I believe in hard work," he says, 
" but hard work is not enough. Many peo- 
ple work with their eyes on the ground. I 
believe in travel. Our young men don't go 
abroad enough. I attribute our family suc- 
cess in no small measure to the fact that all 
my brothers and I have traveled extensively. 

" Originality is important. I believe that 
half the journahstic notions of what the 
public wants to read are wrong. They are 
largely based on old-fashioned tradition or 
upon the journaUst's personal tastes. I be- 
lieve the pubUc is a far better critic than is 
usually imagined. And I do not believe 
that any amount of advertising will keep up 
a bad thing. The public does not care one 



NORTHCLIFFE AT WORK 255 

iota about size; if anything, a small jour- 
nal is preferred to a big one. It is a broad 
principle of our business never to compete 
in size with anybody. More money has been 
lost in journalism on the theory that the 
pubhc wants bulk than on any other theory. 
What the public wants is quality, character, 
individuality." 

Having chmbed from obscurity to fame 
imaided. Lord Northchffe is well quahfied 
to give advice to young men who wish to 
rise in the world. When he was asked re- 
cently to give some suggestions for the 
guidance of other climbers, he said: "My 
advice to every young man would be this: 
Concentrate your energies and work hard. 
SpeciaUze, be original, launch out on new 
experiments, and be sure to have the courage 
of your convictions. I think that special- 
ization is the keynote of success, and this 
principle will be even more essential in the 
future. The world's effective workers are 
constantly increasing in number. Competi- 
tion is steadily growing keener. The man 
who wins recognition in this twentieth cen- 
tury will have to do some one thing ex- 
tremely well. If I were giving just one 



256 NORTHCLIFFE 

word of advice to a young man I should 
say — concentrate. When you have fixed 
the lines on which you want to travel and 
know that you are right, keep to them and 
do not listen to what other people say. 
Every young man has a chance to rise, but 
it needs good judgment to know when to 
seize opportunities, and persistence to keep 
hold of them when they are caught." 

World famous as he is to-day. Lord 
Northchffe's advice is full of encouragement 
to those earnest workers who have not yet 
reached places of eminence. As he wisely 
points out, if only the right kind of seed be 
planted the fruit will ripen by and by. Nor 
are results always attained in a hurry. In- 
deed, one of the great lessons derived from 
the life of this successful man is that 
patience, perseverance, determination, and 
unflagging courage are qualities which, given 
a suitable environment, will surely win their 
reward. 



IX 

SOCIAL GLIMPSES 

There are two Northcliffes, one who is 
known in public life, the other who is known 
at home, and they differ in many ways. 
The stern fighter of inefficiency, the inces- 
sant worker and busy man of affairs, be- 
comes transformed when he) crosses the 
threshold of his home. In this busy man's 
life there is, in fact, one definite rule which 
might be copied with advantage by over- 
worked American millionaires. His rest- 
ing hours are devoted to complete relaxa- 
tion, although in war time he has had to 
keep a sharp watch on the news and the di- 
rection of his newspapers, especially The 
Times, 

An English wit once remarked: "It is 
vulgar to talk about one's business in social 
life. Only people like stockbrokers do that, 
and then merely at dinner parties." Lord 

257 



258 NORTHCLIFFE 

Northcliffe apparently takes a similar view. 
Except in a time of a great national crisis 
his work for the day ends when the time for 
dinner begins, and from that moment no 
guest at any of his houses ever discusses 
business. Unlike so many men of decided 
talent, Northcliffe reveals at home one of 
the best sides of his nature. His bubbling 
wit, brilliant conversation, and good cheer 
are for his own fireside; all that is cutting, 
critical, and denunciatory is for public ene- 
mies or inefHcients who wear a rhinoceros 
hide. At home one sees the real North- 
cliffe, filled with all the youthful impulses 
and vitalized energy of a Peter Pan who is 
never likely to grow old. 

Neither his tremendous business respon- 
sibilities nor his activities as newspaper 
owner, editorial director, and public man 
consume his whole energies. In spite of his 
busy life he has found time to become an 
expert at any game which he has taken up, 
and has carried his spirit of thoroughness 
even into his recreations. He plays a swift 
game of tennis, and he is an enthusiastic 
golfer. Having been one of the first Eng- 
lishmen to take up motoring, he knows all 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 259 

that is worth knowing about an automobile. 
He has more than a dozen cars, of all varie- 
ties, and before the war it was his custom, 
in the winter season, to travel from London 
to the south of France in one of his motor 
vehicles whenever he went to his villa at 
Beauheu on the Riviera coast. 
' Northcliff e has taken a great deal of in- 
terest in automobile racing, and has offered 
prizes in connection with the sport. He has 
also taken a foremost part in promoting 
motor-boat racing, the race for the Harms- 
worth Cup having been one of the great 
events in these contests. It is quite pos- 
sible that some day he may become an avi- 
ator, for he has been interested in aircraft 
from the time they first appeared. For 
years he has been well known as an angler 
— not with hook and worm, but as a manipu- 
lator of a slender rod and artificial flies in 
fishing for trout. He has written many 
articles describing his fishing experiences, 
which include tarpon fishing in the Gulf of 
Mexico and exciting tussles with giant tuna 
on the Pacific Coast. 

Although as a man of wealth and position 
Northcliflte has moved in every grade of 



260 NORTHCLIFFE 

fashionable society, his indinations are not 
so much for the Hfe of fashion as for that 
of achievement. On this account the guests 
at his houses are usually people who have 
done something useful in the world, either in 
the domain of government, in the industrial 
realm, or in literature, science, or art. Any 
one who visits him is practically certain to 
find society that is interesting. 

The famous newspaper owner attributes 
no small measure of his success to his mar- 
ried life, which has been singularly un- 
clouded and happy. To-day Lord and 
Lady Northcliffe are as charming, unaf- 
fected, and delightful a couple as when their 
joint efforts yielded barely fifty dollars a 
week. 

Not only is the wife of the great journal- 
ist one of the most interesting and attractive 
women in English society, but she is also 
one of the most popular. Her manner is 
English in its graciousness, her voice is 
Enghsh in its softness and beauty of modu- 
lation. From the start she was a great 
help to her husband, both through her keen 
powers of observation and through her un- 
usually good judgment in literary matters. 




Lady Northcliffe 

From a recent portrait 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 261 

At a later period her help was equally 
important in the social realm. 

On the leading questions of the day Lady 
Northcliffe has pronounced views, and espe- 
cially concerning the question of suffrage. 
A lover of the home, she is opposed to the 
suffrage movement, and while a firm be- 
liever in vocational life for women, she does 
not consider it necessary for women to have 
votes in order to effect reforms. 

On one of her visits to New York, Lady 
Northcliff e was interviewed by a woman 
writer, and in the course of this chat she 
gave some thoroughly practical views on the 
subject of marriage. Among other things 
she said: "Everyone ought to marry, be- 
cause marriage is a woman's sphere and a 
man's success. I don't beheve that single 
men ever develop the best there is in them. 
It is but natural that they should not, be- 
cause their natures are incomplete without 
the softening, tempering influence of woman. 
It may be said that a bad marriage wrecks 
many a man's life, but that simply goes to 
prove how greatly marriage counts. 

" The way to be happily married is to 
marry one who has the proper attributes to 



262 NORTHCLIFFE 

complement one's nature. There is nothing 
in the world that will not yield to such a 
combination — social success, professional suc- 
cess, fmancial success, and the greatest suc- 
cess of all, real happiness in the home. All 
these are possible to the men and women who 
marry well. To find a suitable affinity it is 
necessary to follow that oft-repeated maxim, 
' Know thyself.' That is quite possible, for 
we are not such enigmas as we sometimes 
like to think. And if we are perfectly hon- 
est, which it is to our interest to be, we 
must recognize our shortcomings as well 
as our good qualities; then all that re- 
mains is to find some one to fill up the 
gaps." 

Such words of plain common sense need 
no comment, but they serve to prove that 
Lord Northcliffe was as fortunate in matri- 
mony as in the great enterprises which 
brought him wealth and fame. 

The charities of this interesting couple are 
unbounded, especially since the war began. 
Having no children of his own, Lord North- 
cliffe has not only taken a deep interest in 
the families of his brothers, but has been 
practically father by adoption to a host of 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 263 

children among the members of his staff and 
other associates. 

Mrs. Harmsworth, the mother of the dis- 
tinguished journalist, who is now in the 
seventies, is a splendid old lady, with a most 
kindly manner, and just the suspicion of a 
high-class Irish accent. An intellectual 
woman, familiar with the best in literature 
and art, her influence on her sons has largely 
shaped their destinies. She has the peculiar 
distinction of being the only woman who has 
four sons in the British parliament — Lord 
Northcliffe and Lord Rothermere in the 
House of Lords, and Cecil and Leicester 
Harmsworth in the House of Commons. 

Besides having a London house near Hyde 
Park Corner, Mrs. Harmsworth has an old- 
fashioned country place, Poynters Hall in 
Hertfordsire. Wherever she is, her eldest 
son. Lord Northchffe, when at home, seldom 
allows a day to pass without calling upon 
her, and his invariable custom is to set aside 
one day each week to be spent with her. 
She is often consulted on matters of im- 
portance, and her advice is greatly prized. 
On her side she wields a firm maternal 
despotism in guarding the health of her 



264 NORTHCLIFFE 

sons, who are obedient to her slightest 
wishes. 

In addition to the members of the family 
already mentioned, there are three Harms- 
worth brothers and three sisters, all but one 
of whom are married. Of the brothers, 
Hildebrand, who was connected with the 
periodical business for a short time, had 
some attraction to journalism and bought 
the GlobCj an old, conservative London eve- 
ning paper. St. John, who had much of the 
enterprise and originality that characterize 
his brother. Lord Northchffe, was preparing 
to enter the newspaper business twelve years 
ago when he met with an automobile accident 
which crippled him for life. In spite of this 
he has taken an active part in the manage- 
ment of a successful company which he 
formed to promote the sale of a table water, 
which has found a large market throughout 
the world. Vyvyan, the youngest brother, 
had no inclination for journalism, and hav- 
ing bought a country estate, he became what 
is called in England " a gentleman farmer." 

As already mentioned, Lord Northchffe, 
when plain Alfred Harmsworth, received a 
baronetcy in 1904 and became Sir Alfred 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 265 

Harmsworth. In 1906 he was created a 
peer with the title of Baron Northchffe of 
the Isle of Thanet, and in 1917 he received 
the title of viscount. On his accession to the 
peerage he adopted the unique armorial crest 
shown on the title page. Two rolls of paper, 
crossed on a shield, are surrounded with bees 
(presumably busy), while above the shield a 
hand grasps a third roll of paper. The 
shield is supported by two gladiators armed 
for the fray, typical of the eminent journal- 
ist's combats in the realms of newspapers 
and poKtics. Beneath this design is the ap- 
propriate motto, " He who acts diligently 
acts well." 

Lord Northcliffe's brother, Harold, who 
was raised to the peerage in 1914 as Baron 
Rothermere of Rothermere, Hemsted, Kent, 
had also been a baronet for several years. 
He has an attractive personality and is ex- 
tremely popular among his business asso- 
ciates and employees. Recently he has held 
the important post of Air Minister, having 
charge of the department which superintends 
the construction and maintenance of Britain's 
aerial squadrons. 

The terrible sacrifices entailed by the war 



266 NORTHCLIFFE 

have been experienced by Lord Rothermere 
to the fullest degree. In February, 1918, 
his eldest son and heir to the title, Lieutenant 
Harold Vyvyan St. George Harmsworth, 
died in England from wounds received at 
the Battle of Cambrai. Lieutenant Vere 
Sidney Tudor Harmsworth, his second son, 
was killed in action in 1916. 

In these days Lord Northcliffe is seldom 
at one place for more than three or four 
days. Being a man of action, he finds re- 
laxation in movement. He has a London 
house, a country house, and at least four 
nooks in remote places in which he finds rest 
and recreation. One of them is a cottage on 
the banks of a celebrated trout stream, and 
another is what he calls a " sleeping box," 
perched high on a lovely hill in Surrey, 
its whereabouts being known to only a 
few peopkrf He calls it "No Hall, No- 
where." 

Lord Northchffe has entertained so many 
of his American friends at Sutton Place, 
formerly his largest country house, that it 
may be of interest to mention that he has 
disposed of the property to the Duke of 
Sutherland, who intends to make his home 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 267 

there when living south of the Tweed. 
There are few EngUsh manor houses to com- 
pare with Sutton Place, either in charm of 
design or in setting. This venerable mansion 
was built between 1520 and 1530 by Sir 
Richard Weston, one of the " Councillors " 
of Henry VIII. He was also ambassador 
to the court of France. While in France Sir 
Richard was greatly influenced by the Ren- 
aissance architecture, and the manner in 
which he blended it with the Tudor style in 
building his home at Sutton resulted in a 
mansion unique of its kind. It was there 
that Sir Richard entertained Henry VIII, 
and other distinguished men of the 
time. 

Sutton Place is about thirty miles from 
London and not far from the quaint old 
town of Guildford. Constructed of red 
brick and terra-cotta, now mellowed by age, 
it is in a wonderful state of preservation. 
Surrounding it is a beautiful park in which 
there are many trees centuries old, while 
the flower gardens are noted for their beauty, 
gardening and the culture of roses being 
one of Lady Northcliffe's hobbies. A few 
years ago some American robins and grey 



268 NORTHCLIFFE 

squirrels were imported and turned loose on 
the estate. These are familiar objects to- 
day, having increased rapidly. 

The old mansion is superbly maintained, 
the fine oak panehng having been preserved, 
while the antique furniture and objects of 
art in the principal rooms have been gath- 
ered with rare taste. Many charming por- 
traits hang in the ancient hall, the walls of 
which are ornamented with armor and im- 
plements of the chase. In recent years Lord 
and Lady Northcliffe managed to recover 
many of the belongings of the place which 
had been sold or otherwise aUenated. 
Equipped with all the comforts and con- 
veniences of twentieth-century life, there is 
no discordant note in the atmosphere of this 
picturesque Tudor manor. 

Sutton Place has a romantic and tragic 
history. Francis Weston, son of Sir Rich- 
ard Weston, who built the house, was one of 
the reputed lovers of Anne Boleyn, queen of 
Henry the Eighth. Having been convicted 
of treason, with several other young men, he 
was beheaded on Tower Hill. His ghost is 
traditionally supposed to haunt Sutton 
Place, and on the anniversary of his death is 




o 

E 

5=1 
O 

in 



_o 

'en 

s 

o 
'^ 

13 

H 
o 

s 



^ 



O 






o 



o 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 269 

said to pass through the corridors bearing 
the severed head and clanking a chain. 

The tragic fate of Francis Weston made 
no difference in the friendship between 
Henry the Eighth and Sir Richard, the 
entire Weston family — father, mother, and 
the son's yomig widow — Shaving continued to 
accept and enjoy the king's favors. The 
last male Weston died in 1730, leaving a 
daughter from whom the present owners of 
the property are descended. As the estate is 
entailed, it was leased to Lord Northcliffe. 

A number of distinguished Americans 
have been the guests of Lord and Lady 
Northcliffe at Sutton Place, including 
Colonel Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, 
and Wilham Dean Howells. 

Northcliffe still retains his first country 
house, Elmwood, on the coast of Kent, which 
he bought with the early profits of Answers, 
A sentimental interest thus attaches to this 
attractive little mansion, which is a quaint 
structure, the interior very homeUke and 
comfortable, with charming rooms, much old 
furniture, and many books. 

Elmwood is situated in a part of Kent 
known as the Isle of Thanet and adjoins 



270 NORTHCLIFFE 

the village of St. Peter's. About half a mile 
from the house are the white chalk cliffs that 
overlook the English Channel. On one 
promontory, the North Foreland, stands an 
important lighthouse, and adjoining this, on 
part of the Elmwood estate, is a point de- 
scribed in old documents as " Ye North 
Cliffe." It was from this place that the 
title Northchffe was derived. 

When the German destroyers attacked the 
coast of Kent in the summer of 1917, it was 
easy for them to aim at Elmwood, which is 
almost on a line with the hghthouse. On 
that occasion a shell passed through the 
house and partly destroyed the library. 
Northcliffe, who escaped injury, at once tele- 
phoned to the staff of The Times that " they 
would hear with mixed feelings that he was 
not hurt." 

Until recently the eminent journalist had 
a house in the ultra-fashionable quarter of 
London adjacent to St. James' Palace, 
Marlborough House, and Buckingham Pal- 
ace, the abodes of royalty. Lord North- 
cliffe's former residence, 22 St. James' 
Place, a charming old mansion, was occupied 
in the early part of the last century by 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 271 

Thomas Rogers, the banker poet, contempo- 
rary and friend of Lord Byron, Tom Moore, 
and other hterary celebrities. Many men 
and women who figured conspicuously in the 
history of that period visited the mansion of 
the poet, who violated all precedents by be- 
ing a man of wealth. 

The war has changed Lord Northcliffe's 
domestic arrangements, and hke many other 
people of distinction he has been caught in 
the wave of economy that has swept over 
England. An American writer who called 
on him at the Times office recently, and 
afterwards went home with him, was sur- 
prised to find that he was occupying quar- 
ters in a less select district. " Northcliff e's 
car passed Buckingham Palace," says this 
writer, " and after making several turns it 
entered Buckingham Street, a narrow thor- 
oughfare, almost hke an alley. It stopped 
in front of a row of small houses, and Lord 
Northcliffe got out, remarking: * This is my 
home, number eight. The house next door 
is Lord Lytton's.' I was much interested, 
and went inside to see more of this change of 
state as compared with the palatial residence 
in St. James' Place. 



272 NORTHCLIFFE 

" On the ground floor there was a room 
about eighteen feet square which was the 
dining room, furnished neatly and plainly; 
in the rear the ' den,' and then a large hall 
with a stairway. The house fronts about 
twenty-five feet and has three stories. I 
should say that $100 a month would be a 
pretty stiff rent for it. 

" ' What did you do with the fine house in 
St. James' Place? ' I asked. 

" ' We let it to a man who had spent five 
million dollars in building a fine house,' re- 
plied Lord Northchffe. * It was too expen- 
sive to maintain in war times, so the owner 
closed it up and came down to what he 
regarded as contraction and economy in St. 
James' Place. We, in turn, moved to this 
little house, displacing people who find a 
flat good enough, and their predecessors in 
the flat doubtless now content themselves in 
lodgings. We keep three servants here when 
we can get them. With the money saved by 
living in Buckingham Street instead of St. 
James' Place, Lady Northchffe is able to 
keep and support a hospital of her own. So 
far from finding it a deprivation, my wife 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 273 

and I like it. It is less trouble and there 
are fewer complications.' " 

The war hospital which Lady Northcliffe 
conducts has been reserved for officers. It 
contains three general wards and a private 
one, which has had the honor of accommo- 
dating a general. From the windows can 
be seen the grounds of Mortimer House, one 
of the famous London mansions. In de- 
scribing the establishment, a correspondent 
of the Pall Mall Gazette recently said: 
" The wards have been decorated with un- 
erring good taste under Lady Northchffe's 
personal direction, the furniture having 
been obtained from one of Lord North- 
cliff e's country houses. A large bowl of 
flowers beside each bed completes an unmis- 
takably comfortable, homelike scheme. 
Lady Northchffe herself, in the most be- 
coming of white nursing outfits, moves about 
like the presiding angel of the house, with 
a smile on her lips and a cheerful word for 
all. She is as much at home in the little 
white marble operating theater (the most 
complete of its kind) as in the cosey, firelit 
apartment where the nurses take their rest, 
>^hile the officers' day room, furnished and 



274 NORTHCLIFFE 

decorated under her direction, lacks noth- 
ing the most ideal home could provide. 
The house, which ranks as a primary hos- 
pital, accommodates twenty-one cases, and 
for months there has not been a vacancy." 
Since he became a prominent figure in 
England, Lord NorthchflPe's activities in the 
social world have been usually turned in a 
useful direction, a tendency which was no- 
ticeable even in his youthful days. As long 
ago as 1894, for instance, when as Alfred 
Harmsworth he had achieved success and 
made a fortune at the early age of twenty- 
nine, he created a stir by promoting an 
Arctic expedition. The Jackson-Harms- 
worth Expedition, as it was called, was 
headed by Frederick Jackson, F.R.G.S. In 
September, 1894, the party sailed for the 
Arctic Ocean in a staunch whaling vessel, 
the Windward, the plan being to establish a 
camp in Franz Josef Land and to make a 
dash from there to the pole. This project, 
however, ended in failure, although the ex- 
pedition proved successful in other ways. 
Not only were some important observations 
made, but one day Nansen, who had left his 
ship the Fram drifting in the polar sea, came 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 275 

walking over the ice in an attempt to reach 
a settlement on land, and was unexpect- 
edly rescued by a hunting party from the 
Windward. Nansen returned with Jackson 
to England. In 1898 the Windward was 
presented to Lieutenant Peary for use in the 
Arctic region. 

Another early social event which excited 
much interest occurred in 1897, when North- 
cliffe, then Alfred Harmsworth, entertained 
at his house in Berkeley Square the premiers 
of the British colonies who visited London to 
attend Queen Victoria's jubilee. 

Lord and Lady Northcliffe have traveled 
extensively, and to this fact is largely due 
the busy journalist's thorough knowledge of 
the world. He has seen practically every 
country in Europe, and in addition to fre- 
quent visits to the United States and Canada 
his travels have taken him to Egypt and 
India. 

During his visit to India in 1897, he made 
a careful study of native questions, and since 
jfchen has done much to dispel misconception 
and pave the way for warmer relations be- 
tween the Indian Empire and Great Britain. 
His efforts in fostering good will between 



276 NORTHCLIFFE 

the two countries cannot be easily gauged 
as to results, but it is certain that they have 
done much toward drawing the bonds still 
closer together. 

In the course of his travels Northcliff e has 
seen most of the world's famous sights. 
Those that made the greatest impression 
upon him were the Roman Forum, the Taj- 
Mahal in India, the Grand Canon of Ari- 
zona, and Niagara Falls, which, he says, 
" one does not begin to understand until it 
has been studied for at least three days." 
Naturally, he has met many celebrities, and 
there are probably few heads of European 
governments, crowned or uncrowned, with 
whom he has failed to become acquainted. 
A monarch for whom he has a great regard 
is King Alfonso of Spain. One of his first 
meetings with that able ruler was at Pau, 
in the south of France, about nine years 
ago, when a number of distinguished people 
gathered there to witness the first trial flights 
of the Wright aeroplane. At that time 
King Alfonso and Northcliffe discussed the 
future of aviation and agreed that the 
Wright brothers had created a new era. 
The king, it may be added, is numbered 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 277 

among the readers of the London Times; 
and the same is true of other monarchs, in- 
eluding even the Kaiser, who, in spite of the 
war, is said to insist on getting his Times 
regularly. 

True democrat that he is, however, North- 
cliffe prefers the company of newspaper folk 
to that of fashionable society, and would 
probably rather meet a newspaper ruler than 
a crowned head. If the nobility are on one 
side of the road and the members of the 
journalistic profession on the other, give 
Lord Northcliife a chance and he will al- 
ways herd with those who have been his life- 
long associates, with whom he retains sym- 
pathy and affinity, and whose ability he rates 
higher than ability in any other line of hu- 
man endeavor. He is quick tempered, but 
also good hearted to the core, and no fellow 
craftsman ever applies to him in vain for 
legitimate assistance in his work. He is 
never ashamed but always proud of his pro- 
fession, and is willing in any company to 
stand up and be counted with a reporter. 

The versatile journalist has been described 
as a man who has the hardest shell and the 
softest heart in England. As an instance 



278 NORTHCLIFFE 

of his good will toward newspaper workers 
a story is told of a kindly act that he per- 
formed when the Supreme War Council met 
at Versailles. Just before the first session 
opened, the British Prime Minister, — Lloyd 
George, — Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, and 
Earl Reading held a preliminary meeting at 
the Hotel de Crillon. At that moment a 
little woman reporter stopped NorthcHffe at 
the door of the hotel and asked for his help. 
She wanted to get an interview with Lloyd 
George, which seemed to be utterly impos- 
sible at such a time. Northcliffe, however, 
had known her and regarded her highly, and 
was at once keen to render assistance in ob- 
taining what she wanted. He went into the 
meeting to see what could be done, and when 
he came out, he said : " I interrupted them, 
but apologized and explained matters." On 
the way from the room to the carriage the 
woman reporter, through Northcliffe's good 
oiBces, was enabled to have a chat with the 
Prime Minister and get a story that went 
all over the world with credit to herself. 

In private life Lord Northcliffe, as al- 
ready observed, makes it a rule to find rest 
and recreation, but the war, which has 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 279 

created abnormal conditions, has compelled 
him to modify this excellent rule. In these 
days of unexpected happenings, it is neces- 
sary for him to keep an eye on the news as 
he rests, and occasionally he must find that 
the softer pleasures of repose and the fur- 
ther reaches of reflection are beyond him. 
By no stretch of imagination could any one 
picture Lord Northcliff e watching the clouds 
and indifferent to the hour at which the 
postman should bring the morning papers* 

A glimpse of Northcliffe's strenuous life 
at the present day was recently given by 
Major Eric Fisher Wood in an article that 
appeared in the Century, On his arrival at 
Elmwood, where he was a guest. Major 
Wood had a chat with his host in the hbrary, 
a high-ceilinged apartment, hned with shelves 
containing every conceivable kind of refer- 
ence volume. Several tables were piled up 
with letters, telegrams, and papers which 
the secretaries were required to find in- 
stantly whenever needed. On one table 
were placed several telephones, which were 
in almost constant use. 

" After dinner," says this writer, " we ad- 
journed to a little sitting room and there sat 



280 NORTHCLIFFE 

around an open fire, while Lord North- 
cliffe lay down at full length on a couch by 
the fireside. His secretaries were com- 
manded to bring the gramophone and to 
play furiously. They played ragtime and 
one steps from 8.45 until 10 o'clock, taking 
turns at shifting the records and changing 
needles. Meanwhile conversation continued 
uninterruptedly except when the telephone 
bell in the adjacent hallway rang because of 
business so important that his editors felt 
obliged to call Northchffe even in the midst 
of his sacred period of ' rest.' A secretary 
wrote down the message and then came to 
report. 

"During the period between dinner and 
10 o'clock Lord ^NTorthcliffe positively re- 
fused to get up from his couch and pre- 
tended to be resting constantly. It was easy 
to see that even when his body rested his 
subconscious mind was as alert as ever. On 
one occasion a secretary, having answered 
the telephone, reported the message, and 
having been told what answer to transmit 
went out again to telephone, shutting the 
door behind him, while Northcliffe resumed 
his conversation. The secretary in the hall 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 281 

outside, in repeating in the telephone North- 
chffe's reply, got one word wrong, saying 
* Thursday ' instead of ' Monday.' Despite 
the discussion which was going on, North- 
cUffe heard it instantly, and through the 
door, as quick as a shot, sent another sec- 
retary rushing out to correct the mistake. 

"At 9.30 he ordered a secretary to tele- 
phone to the Times office and obtain the 
details of the next day's news. This is done 
every evening, that ISTorthcliffe may run over 
the day's items before he retires. The secre- 
tary was gone about ten minutes and brought 
back six or eight pages of shorthand, begin- 
ning with a report of a destroyer's fight in 
the North Sea and ending with a resume 
of a violent attack upon Northcliff e by some 
hostile newspaper. 

" It is always a most illuminating light 
upon any man's character to observe the 
attitude with which he sustains the abuse 
of his opponents, and it was therefore with 
the keenest interest that I watched the little 
scene. Before beginning to read the attack 
the secretary grinned cheerfully and ex- 
pectantly, while Lord NorthcUffe lay at full 
length upon the couch with his head turned 



282 NORTHCLIFFE 

in attentive interest, smiling a smile of 
happy contentment as would have shamed 
the famous Cheshire Cat. It was not difBcult 
to see that he is a man who would be wretch- 
edly unhappy without a plentiful supply of 
enemies, and that he values their attacks 
more highly than the plaudits of his friends." 

Like Harriman, the railroad magnate, 
who had a telephone in every room, North- 
cliffe usually contrives to keep in touch with 
his newspapers, no matter how far from 
London he may be. Sometimes he picks up 
a piece of important news and loses no time 
in telephoning it to one of his papers. With 
him the instinct of the newspaper man is 
always in evidence. How well it is put to 
use the author had an opportunity of ob- 
serving on one occasion when motoring with 
the keen-eyed journaUst from London to 
Elmwood, a distance of nearly seventy miles. 
On the way a halt for luncheon was made 
at an old-fashioned inn close to a small vil- 
lage. 

Afterwards, while standing at the door- 
way and waiting for the car to come from 
the garage, Northchffe started conversation 
with an old man who was seated on a bench 




The Hall, Sutton Place 

In use since the days of Henry VIII, this ancient room is 
the embodiment of quaint picturesqueness 

Courtesy of Macmillan Co. 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 283 

near by. A quaint old figure, wearing a 
smockfrock, the venerable countryman might 
have stepped from a painting by Moreland. 
He was almost ninety years old, he said, 
and although the village was only forty miles 
from London he had never been to the city. 
He seemed to have been quite indifferent 
about the wonders of the great metropolis 
and had been content to pass his days in 
working as a farm laborer in the neighbor- 
hood, seldom venturing more than a few 
miles away. 

"An excellent idea for a fourth-page 
article in the Daily Mail" remarked North- 
cliffe, as he made a note in his memorandum 
book. " There must be many villages of 
this kind, with old-fashioned people and 
queer customs, even in these days of auto- 
mobiles and aeroplanes." 

Having obtained an idea, Northcliffe was 
anxious to pay for it. " Now, grandfather," 
said he to the old inhabitant, " if you could 
have anything that you liked in this world 
and could have it this minute, what would 
you choose?" 

Dazed by this unexpected visit of a mod- 
em Santa Claus, the old man stammered 



284 NORTHCLIFFE 

that he would like nothing better than two 
pounds of the best tobacco, some new clay 
pipes with long stems, and a sovereign ($5). 
His grandchildren, he explained, took good 
care of him, but there were times when he 
felt that he would like to have a little change 
of his own to do what he pleased with, and 
occasionally his supply of " baccy " ran 
short. 

"You shall have them at once," said 
Northcliffe. Turning to the landlord of the 
inn, he asked him to have the tobacco and 
pipes brought out immediately. When they 
were produced and handed to the near cen- 
tenarian, Northcliffe gave him the sovereign, 
with a shake of the hand, and told him that 
he hoped he would live to be over a hundred. 

It was clearly a red-letter day in the life 
of this ancient toiler, whose delight was evi- 
dent as he tried to find words to express his 
thanks. That, however, is not the end of the 
story. 

A few moments later a woman came along 
the road, tired and bedraggled from a long 
tramp. Stopping at the inn doorway, she 
asked Northcliffe for a few pennies to get 
food and drink. He handed her some money 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 285 

and asked her how far she had come and how 
she made her hving. She had walked over 
ten miles that morning, she answered, and 
she followed the races for a living. " I am 
a gipsy, sir," she added; " I sell papers and 
other things at the tracks, and sometimes 
when the poUce ain't looking I tell for- 
tunes." 

" You won't tell mine," remarked North- 
cliff e, with a smile, " because I'm opposed 
to every form of superstition, and I have 
never had my fortune told." 

" You don't need to have it told, sir," re- 
plied the woman as she studied him closely, 
" You have gained everything you ever set 
out to get." 

"A good character reader, at any rate," 
said Northcliife. " Now," he went on, " you 
say you follow the races. I suppose you bet 
whenever you have any money." 

" Yes, sir," answered the woman, " some- 
times I do put a few shillings on one of the 
horses." 

" Now, what paper do you get the best 
tips from? " asked Northcliife. 

To quote the reply would be a breach of 
confidence, but the gist of it was that one 



286 NORTHCLIFFE 

of Northcliffe's papers had formerly beaten 
all others with its sporting news, but re- 
cently it had fallen behind and a rival paper 
was giving better information on racing 
topics. 

" I have suspected that for some time," 
coromented NorthcUffe, as he made another 
note, " and I know the reason of this faUing 
behind. It will be remedied very promptly." 

The result was that a few days later there 
was a shake-up in the editorial department 
of the offending paper, which had such a 
good effect that the sporting news was soon 
in the lead again and this paper once more 
eclipsed all its competitors. 

While he has an eye for news, Northchffe 
seldom loses sight of the humorous side of 
things, and keenly enjoys a queer situation. 
Perhaps it is his ability to extract humor 
from daily life that has enabled him to cope 
with the heavy responsibilities and hard 
work that he has had to face. One of the 
most amusing incidents that he ever noted 
occurred in Scotland. On one occasion he 
visited the Hebrides Islands, where Gaelic 
is the prevailing language. Many of the 
people there are so poverty-stricken that 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 287 

they live in rude stone huts, thatched with 
heather. During a storm, the observant 
traveler sought refuge from the rain in a 
rather pretentious hut which served as a 
village store. He soon noticed that bare- 
footed children came in at intervals, handed 
the storekeeper two or three eggs, said some- 
thing in Gaelic, and received little packets 
in exchange. 

"What is the meaning of this?" asked 
Northchffe. 

The storekeeper, who spoke English, ex- 
plained that as money was scarce among 
the people, they used eggs as currency, and 
children were sent to buy an egg's worth of 
tea, coffee, sugar, or other things. When 
he had a sufficiently large supply of eggs he 
shipped them to the mainland for sale. 

While the conversation was proceeding, a 
little girl peeped through the doorway some- 
what bashfully and at last summoned up 
courage to enter the store. She whispered 
something, whereupon the storekeeper, smil- 
ing, handed her a packet without receiving 
anything in payment. 

As she disappeared, Northcliffe said, 
" I'm sure there's a good story in this." 



288 NORTHCLIFFE 

" You're right," said the storekeeper, " it 
was funny. She said: * Mother says will 
you trust her for an egg's worth of tea, as 
the hen hasn't laid yet.' " 

Like the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid of 
old, Northcliffe is able to wander about the 
country without being recognized by those 
whom he interviews. For, strangely enough, 
while he is declared by his admirers to be 
the biggest man in England and has even 
been termed the biggest man in the world, 
he is less known by sight to the people of 
his own country than many a minor celeb- 
rity. His power in Great Britain surpasses 
that of any man who does not hold office, 
his name is on everybody's lips, his portrait 
frequently appears in the newspapers, and 
articles, interviews, and editorials concerning 
him are constantly published in the British 
and American press; yet he can walk about 
London without recognition except by a few 
people. During the months that he spent 
in New York in 1917, as head of the British 
War Mission, he was seen almost daily by 
many people as he left his offices in Fifth 
Avenue, but only a few newspapermen were 
able to identify him. 



SOCIAL GLIMPSES 289 

King George cannot leave Buckingham 
Palace without attracting a large crowd. 
Lloyd George is as well known by sight 
as his views are known by his speeches and 
political actions. Alfred James Balfour's 
attenuated form is immediately recognized; 
while Kitchener, from the days of his South 
African triumph to the time that he went 
to his death off the Orkneys, was greeted 
whenever he appeared in public. Even 
Colonel Roosevelt found that his identity 
was familiar to the people of London when 
he visited England on his return from 
Africa. Northcliffe, however, retains and 
enjoys the fullest degree of anonymity. 

Most celebrities would resent this lack of 
popular recognition, but to Northcliffe it is 
a manifest advantage; for while he is the 
world's foremost newspaper owner, he is able 
to experience all the variety and excitement 
of the journalist's life, and this is worth 
more to him than any amount of public ac- 
claim. His social life is full of variety and 
originality, and that is probably the reason 
why those who have glimpsed it find that 
it abounds in what newspapers term deep 
human interest and material for live stories. 



X 

AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 

Every American who meets Lord North- 
cliffe is impressed by what might be termed 
his adopted Americanism, a characteristic 
which was noticeable even in his youthful 
days. At the present time no other living 
Englishman knows or understands us as 
well as he. Having traveled extensively in 
this country, he is one of the few English- 
men who have really caught the American 
spirit, and who can enter into the American 
point of view. 

Northcliffe's journeys have taken him 
from Maine to California, from the Great 
Lakes to New Orleans; and he has seen 
Canada from east to west. He is a close 
observer, and life in the great American 
cities has always interested him. By his 
thorough knowledge of local conditions, he 
can discuss the enterprise of New York, the 
culture of Boston, the growth of Chicago, 

290 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 291 

and the attractions of Washington. He 
knows all about our great industrial centers. 
The wonderful possibiUties of San Francisco 
have not escaped his attention, and he has 
made the rounds of Cincinnati and St. 
Louis. 

During his frequent visits, in recent years, 
he has become acquainted with large num- 
bers of representative Americans. He is 
known to a legion of newspapermen, from 
reporters to newspaper owners; he has 
talked finance with our great financiers and 
manufacturing with our captains of in- 
dustry, and has also found time to discuss 
pubhc affairs with some of our foremost 
politicians. He has been greeted by two of 
our Presidents. In New York, at Newport, 
and elsewhere he has penetrated the inner 
circles of fashionable society and has many 
friends among the leaders of wealth and 
culture. 

As the result of his study and observa- 
tions Lord Northcliffe's knowledge of Amer- 
ican history and social conditions surprises 
every American who talks with him. 
When he wants to illustrate society, for 
instance, he links the Bowery with White- 



292 NORTHCLIFFE 

chapel or Wall Street with Lombard 
Street. 

Once when he was traveling from Wash- 
ington to New York with some newspaper- 
men, one of them happened to mention that 
the inventor of the first submarine was 
Robert Fulton, and added that a monument 
ought to be erected in Fulton's birthplace. 
Northcliffe took obvious satisfaction in inter- 
jecting: "Yes, I know — Robert Fulton 
was born about ten miles from where the 
train now is, in Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania." 

While a band in 'New York was playing 
some ragtime selections, somebody in North- 
chffe's party started to tell the story of 
Irving Berlin. Northchffe stopped the 
would-be story teller by remarking: "I 
have met Berlin. Isn't it extraordinary that 
he should write all that music without know- 
ing a note ? " 

Even in his great liking for America's 
national game, baseball, Northcliffe's Amer- 
icanism is distinctively shown. Whenever he 
is in the United States during the baseball 
season and has time to spare, he is sure to 
attend at least one of the principal games 




An Exciting Moment 

Lord Northcliffe as a "fan," watching a baseball game 

in New York. @ Western Ne-wspaper Unicn 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 293 

of the World's Series. In 1917 he was 
among the spectators in the press gallery 
when the Giants and White Sox contested 
for the championship in New York. A 
photograph of the distinguished " fan," taken 
on that occasion, has been reproduced as an 
illustration for the present chapter. 

When the White Sox and Giants visited 
London a few years ago, in the course of 
their tour round Ihe world. Lord North- 
chffe did everything in his power to make 
their public appearances a success. His 
newspapers devoted a large amount of space 
to explanations of baseball and aroused so 
much interest in the sport that the king, 
accompanied by his suite, attended one of 
the games, which was witnessed by 25,000 
spectators. 

In his familiarity with such matters as 
baseball Northchff e reveals his amazing store 
of knowledge and equally amazing memory. 
He has met almost everybody worth know- 
ing, and he never forgets. When a man 
becomes preoccupied with his own greatness, 
he likes to do most of the talking. North- 
cliff e, on the contrary, still listens more than 
he talks, as a good journalist should. He 



294 NORTHCLIFFE 

gives much information, but he receives 
much in return. In fact, he is the sort of 
man who always interviews the interviewer. 

Northchffe's knowledge of American local 
history surprised a New York friend who 
took him on an automobile trip through an 
interesting part of New England. Not only 
was the British visitor thoroughly well in- 
formed in regard to colonial history, but he 
was equally familiar with the details of the 
Revolutionary War and their connection 
with towns which were passed on the 
journey. 

This recalls the fact that while North- 
cliffe has always been an admirer of the 
United States and his newspapers have been 
consistently pro-American, he is intelligent 
enough not to be a strong believer in much 
of the " Hands across the Sea " talk that 
is heard at times. What he believes is that 
the chief community of ideals between the 
Briton and American lies in their mutual 
love of fair play and their adherence to the 
principles of freedom achieved in the Eng- 
lish Revolution of 1640 and the American 
Revolution of 1776. 

In discussing this subject not long ago, 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 295 

he remarked: " There ought to be a strong 
feeUng of sympathy between the people of 
Great Britain and of the United States be- 
cause of the fact that they are largely of 
the same race. There is a great friendship 
for Americans on our side of the Atlantic, 
and we take pride in the achievements of the 
United States during the past hundred years 
under the leadership of men who, in every 
stage of the country's development, have 
usually borne English names." 

Most international misunderstandings, 
Northcliffe believes, might be prevented if 
the nations were better acquainted with each 
other. He is therefore a strong advocate 
of travel as an educator. Britons and Amer- 
icans, he is convinced, would be much better 
friends, if they traveled more in each other's 
countries, although conditions in this respect, 
he admits, are improving. In giving his 
views on British-American relations, he said 
recently: "The vast masses of people in 
Great Britain and the United States are 
really inlanders; they seldom travel out of 
their own country. I suppose that the num- 
ber of Americans who know anything of the 
British Empire by personal travel is less 



296 NORTHCLIFFE 

than a half per cent. The Enghshman who 
has Hved for three or four months in the 
midst of American family life, or an Ameri- 
can who has resided in any part of the Brit- 
ish Empire, begins to realize that Britons 
and Americans are singularly alike. The 
fact that they speak the same language, with 
minor variations, renders it speedily possible 
for those who have not advanced in years 
of prejudice to understand and therefore to 
like each other." 

Northcliffe paid his first visit to this coun- 
try in the early part of 1894, when, as Al- 
fred Harmsworth, he had started his weekly 
papers, laid the foundation of his fortune, 
and reached the first stage of his journey 
toward fame. Although he had become well 
known in England, at that time, as the pub- 
lisher of Answers, his visit to New York was 
unnoticed by any of the local newspapers. 

During a stay of two months on this side 
of the Atlantic, the young pubhsher visited 
Boston, Montreal, and Quebec, and also 
made a trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida 
for some tarpon fishing. Before leaving 
New York he investigated publishing con- 
ditions thoroughly, and among other things 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 297 

made a study of the distribution methods of 
the American News Company, into which 
he was given an insight by the late Patrick 
Farrelly, at that time president of the great 
organization. 

Some New York pubhshers who were told 
of Harmsworth's success were highly skep- 
tical, and were unable to believe that a mere 
youth had started some cheap papers and 
had made a large fortune in less than five 
years. When told the story they shook their 
heads and frankly confessed that they could 
not credit it. 

Nearly seven years later — at the end of 
December, 1900 — ^Alfred Harmsworth vis- 
ited New York again, but on this occasion 
the news of his coming had preceded him. 
On his arrival he was interviewed by re- 
porters and snapped by camera men, the 
newspapers having reserved a large amount 
of space for accounts of the enterprising 
founder of the Harmsworth publications and 
the Daily Mail, Later on illustrated articles 
appeared in the Sunday supplements, some 
of which filled an entire page, while 
" Harmsworth stories " were sent to all 
parts of the country by the news agencies. 



298 NORTHCLIFFE 

The famous journalist obtained still fur- 
ther publicity a few days later when it was 
announced that, at the request of Joseph 
Pulitzer, he had arranged to take charge of 
the New York World on the night of De- 
cember 31, and superintend the issuance of 
a Twentieth Century Edition, based on his 
own ideas of what the newspaper of the fu- 
ture was likely to be. This experiment was 
watched with great interest by newspaper 
proprietors throughout the United States. 

On December 31 the World published the 
following address from Alfred Harmsworth 
to readers of the paper: "I have come to 
the United States to exchange ideas on jour- 
nalism, to learn, and to suggest. The editor 
of the New York World has given me com- 
plete control of his magnificent organization 
for twenty-four hours, and though the time 
is brief and I only reached this country on 
Thursday last, I shall appeal, to-morrow, to 
the fair, able, and intellectual discrimination 
for which Americans are noted the world 
over. I feel confident that my system of 
portable, pocketable, logically arranged jour- 
nalism will meet with careful consideration, 
^nd that from the invitation I shall make to 



AMERI CAN EXPERIENCES 299 

the American people to offer suggestions as 
to what is wanted in the newspapers of the 
twentieth century I shall receive invaluable 
advice." 

On assuming charge of the World on the 
evening of December 31, Harmsworth de- 
livered a short and breezy address to mem- 
bers of the staff, in which he asked for their 
cooperation in making the new paper a suc- 
cess. As a joke the World men all appeared 
in evening dress, with the idea of impressing 
the editor pro tem. Harmsworth, however, 
was in his usual businesshke attire. As he 
glanced round the room his eye hghted on 
one of the editors who was also in working 
garb. " That man has the right sense of 
humor," he remarked briskly. " He shows 
some originality, too." A few years later 
this World man was invited to join the staff 
of the Daily Mail at an unusually large sal- 
ary, and to-day he has become one of the 
principal stockholders. 

On January 1, 1901, the Twentieth Cen- 
tury Edition of the New York World made 
its appearance. Harmsworth had issued the 
paper in what he called " tabloid form," or 
about the size of Collier's Weekly, with 



30a NORTHCLIFFE 

thirty-two pages and four columns to the 
page, the news being condensed to the small- 
est limits. No story exceeded 250 words in 
length, and illustrations were dispensed with. 
In an article which appeared on the editorial 
page, the originator of this new idea in jour- 
nalism declared that the paper of small size 
had the following good points : " It is an 
advantage to advertisers. It is convenient 
for reading in the street car or for carrying 
in the pocket." 

Among new ideas which he suggested was 
this : " It is impossible for the busy man to 
keep track of new books. I would therefore 
employ a staff of competent editors to exam- 
ine all new books that are coming into the 
world each year, by good authors of all coun- 
tries. I would provide a careful condensa- 
tion of every new book or pubHcation worth 
reading." 

As to the suggestion last mentioned, that 
has already been followed by the American 
press in recent years, most of the important 
newspapers having issued weekly literary 
supplements. 

That Harmsworth was right in his idea 
of news condensation has been proved by the 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 301 

experience of most newspaper readers, the 
majority of whom simply glance at the head- 
lines and seldom take the trouble to read 
entire stories of a column or more. On the 
staff of the Daily Mail, it may be added, 
reporters are not paid by the amount of 
space they fill, as in this country, but accord- 
ing to their abihty to produce an interesting 
story in the smallest compass. 

What the proprietor of the New York 
World thought of the " tabloid " idea was 
shown by the fact that on January 2 the 
paper was issued in its usual form. Many 
publishers, it is true, commended the Harms- 
worth idea, and Thomas A. Edison, among 
other celebrities, hailed tabloid journalism as 
a great improvement; but the general ver- 
dict in American newspaper circles was de- 
cidedly against it. Newspaper experts who 
criticized the tabloid form contended that it 
was unsuited to American conditions, that 
American readers preferred long stories, and 
that advertisers required large space. Frank 
A. Munsey, who expressed this opinion, 
said : " The large sheet is not only easier to 
read but is more impressive, while it also 
gives advertisers greater room. What is 



302 NORTHCLIFFE 

still more important is the fact that the 
small paper is not a money bringer." 

In spite of these unfavorable views, the 
far-sighted British journahst has never 
changed his mind in regard to the tabloid 
principle, and still beheves that compactness 
of form and brevity will distinguish the 
newspaper of the future. In an interview 
a few years ago he said: " American news- 
papers are afflicted with what I call the size 
disease. A great deal of space is wasted on 
trivialities, such as unnecessary illustrations. 
For instance, in a New York paper that I 
was reading to-day I noticed a story of a 
woman who had been run over by an auto- 
mobile. This story was accompanied by a 
picture of the car. Now what is the use of 
such a picture ? It is just a common auto- 
mobile, seen by hundreds. Who is wiser for 
seeing the picture ? The story could have 
been told in four lines, but half a column 
was devoted to it. 

" Condensation will be the feature of the 
coming newspaper. In fact, we have edu- 
cated the British public to appreciate con- 
densed news, and you will come to it, in this 
country, in time. American business men 




A Snapshot (1901) 

At the St. Augustine, Florida, Golf Club 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 303 

have told me that they cannot read half the 
stories in the newspapers, because the ar- 
ticles are much too long. They simply read 
the headlines. That is why I say that Amer- 
ican newspapers are suffering from the size 
disease in their news reports, in the size of 
their pages, the number of their pages, and 
their general make-up. They are too un- 
wieldy." 

As to the size of American newspapers, 
strangely enough the managers of the New 
York subways have apparently been con- 
verted to the tabloid idea. Illustrated post- 
ers were recently placed in all the trains 
requesting passengers to fold their news- 
papers while reading them, because large 
sheets, held at arm's length, frequently cause 
annoyance to fellow travelers. The paper 
famines in recent years, with the consequent 
increasing cost of white paper, have also 
served to call attention to the advantages 
of smaller newspapers, and some adaptation 
of the tabloid idea may eventually become 
general. 

It is interesting to add that as long ago 
as 1875 Charles A. Dana, of the New York 
Sun, made a strong plea for condensation. 



304 NORTHCLIFFE 

" The American newspaper reader," he said, 
" demands of an editor that news and dis- 
cussions shall not be presented in solid 
chunks, but so condensed and clarified that 
he shall be relieved of the necessity of wad- 
ing through a treatise to get a fact or spend- 
ing time on a dilated essay to get a bite at 
the argument." No one had a better idea 
of newspaper making than the Sun's famous 
editor, so that his opinion is of special 
value. 

Since 1908 Alfred Harmsworth, like his 
famous "tabloid," has disappeared from 
view, and Lord Northcliffe, as he is now 
known, has supplied plenty of copy for the 
newspapers on his frequent visits to this 
country. 

In 1908 it was announced in Washington 
that Lord and Lady Northchflfe and Mrs. 
Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe's mother, 
had been entertained at the White House 
by President Roosevelt. At that time the 
British and the American advocates of the 
strenuous life formed a friendship that has 
since continued. Northcliffe on that occa- 
sion not only had an opportunity to observe 
Colonel Roosevelt's energetic methods of dis- 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 305 

patching public business, but also enjoyed 
the privilege of hearing him address a visit- 
ing delegation with all his characteristic 
vigor of speech and manner. 

Subsequently, in commenting on the ac- 
cessibility of public men at the capital and 
their lack of reserve in giving interviews to 
reporters, Northcliif e remarked : " There 
are no secrets in America. Big men in this 
country don't shut themselves up, but can 
be seen and criticized. It is doubtless for 
this reason that they come in for such a 
large share of discussion, advice, and con- 
demnation from the press." 

The visitor found much to attract him in 
Washington. " The capital," he said, " has 
impressed me as a city of rapidly increasing 
beauty and one well worthy of the world's 
greatest republic. It is of a size and dignity 
which might be expected for the headquar- 
ters of the United States government." At 
the same time he declaimed against the idea 
that Philadelphia is a slow town. " The 
Baldwin Locomotive Works there," he re- 
marked, " are the largest in the world. As 
for newspapers, one of the Philadelphia 
evening newspapers is not surpassed in any 



306 NORTHCLIFFE 

part of the world for appearance, make-up, 
and quickness of production." 

In speaking of New York, at that time. 
Lord Northcliffe said that he had been much 
impressed by the improvement of the city 
architecturally, the business districts having 
been almost rebuilt since his first visit in 
1894. There had also been a notable ad- 
vancement, socially, artistically, and other- 
wise. " The most remarkable thing about 
New York," he added, " is the splendid 
spirit of optimism by which it is animated." 
An admirer of New York, Northcliffe, in 
19Q8, presented a memorial window to 
Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. It is in- 
cluded in a series of twelve windows which 
illustrate the influence of Puritanism on de- 
mocracy and hberty in America. 

In a recent interview American progress 
was discussed by the British journalist, his 
opinion being that the advancement of the 
next hundred years would far surpass the 
achievements of the last century. The fol- 
lowing extracts from this interview are of 
peculiar interest as conveying the result of 
a thoughtful observer's ideas and impres- 
sions: 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 307 



" Mechanically the United States is so far 
ahead of the rest of the world that I doubt 
whether Europe will ever be able to catch 
up. Even in the matter of surface trans- 
portation you lead all other nations. The 
inventive genius of this country is the ad- 
miration of the entire world. Without 
American inventors we might never have 
had the telegraph, telephone, sewing ma- 
chine, modern printing press, typewriter, 
phonograph, and innumerable other devices 
that now play such an important part in 
everyday life. 

" In newspapers, in which, of course, I 
am chiefly interested, we siu*ely lead you in 
style and accuracy. On the other hand, you 
beat us with your quick production and gen- 
eral mechanical proficiency. Rotary presses, 
typesetting machines, and the stereotyping 
processes — things quite essential to news- 
papers the world over — are entirely, or al- 
most entirely, American inventions. 

" The American public school system 
serves as a model for the world. As an edu- 
cative force it has been wonderful. No other 
nation could possibly have assimilated, in a 
single generation, the sort of people that 



808 NORTHCLIFFE 

have been dumped on your shores from 
Europe. The public school has done much 
in transforming their children into useful 
American citizens." 

A staunch friend of the Wright brothers, 
the pioneers in aviation, Northcliffe believes 
that the United States may, some day, out- 
strip all other countries in the manufacture 
of aircraft. " I am glad," he said, " that 
Dayton, Ohio, the home of the Wrights, has 
become an important aircraft center. It is 
possible that Dayton may eventually be- 
come the aircraft capital of the world, which 
it is fitting that the home of the Wright 
brothers should be." 

While Northcliffe has been unstinted in 
his praise of everything in this country that 
is worthy of commendation, he has not over- 
looked some of our national weaknesses. A 
few years ago, for example, he declared in 
an interview published in the New York 
Times, that the people of the United States 
had a genius for being commonplace. Here 
is what he said in part: 

" The early settlers in America were peo- 
ple of marked uidividualities, who thought 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 309 

for themselves. They read and wrote orig- 
inal things, and were not afraid of the opin- 
ion of the majority. Many of them had 
left Europe, in fact, as a protest against 
the power of the majority. They were orig- 
inal thinkers and they produced an original 
mind in the American. 

" In recent years the vast influx of immi- 
grants of a lower type, all aping American 
ways, has produced a sameness throughout 
the country. It is impossible for a stranger 
traveling through the United States to tell 
from the appearance of the people or the 
country whether he is in Toledo, Ohio, or 
Portland, Oregon. Ninety milhon Amer- 
icans cut their hair in the same way, eat 
each morning exactly the same breakfast, 
tie up the small girl's curls with precisely 
the same kind of ribbon fashioned into bows 
exactly alike; and in every way all try to 
look and act as much hke all the others as 
they can — just as the Chinese do. In other 
words, Americans, in many ways, are white 
Chinese. 

" The whole tendency, in these days, is to 
destroy individuaUty. Anything like indi- 
viduality in dress, thought, or action on the 



310 NORTHCLIFFE 

part of any of your people is decried as un- 
American. 

" I believe in individuality. I do not be- 
lieve in standardizing human beings. I be- 
lieve that one of the reasons why so small 
a country as Great Britain maintains so 
vast a place in the world is that we produce 
individuahties. Scotland has never had a 
population of more than five milhons, and 
yet the highly individualized Scotchmen are 
found at the top in all parts of the world. 
In developing resources and building cities 
wonderful attainments have been made in 
the United States, but most of these things 
have been done by the old American stock 
which made America what it is to-day." 

The general impression among American 
newspapers was that NorthcUffe did not 
intend to be taken seriously. Most editors, 
in fact, hailed the interview with delight 
and fairly chuckled over it. As an editorial 
writer has since remarked : " No one re- 
sented the interview. American readers, 
after digesting it, exclaimed : ' He's done 
it very well. Three cheers for him! ' That, 
of course, is the American attitude. Abuse 
us, if you like, but don't do it stupidly. Re- 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 311 

cently the Germans have been doing it 
stupidly." 

While, to a certain extent, this may be 
true, yet it is scarcely a correct interpreta- 
tion of Northcliffe's views. What he un- 
doubtedly meant was that in this country 
there is a tendency toward standardization 
among people. For example, somebody de- 
clares that young men in order to succeed 
must be " clean cut and aggressive." Forth- 
with this phrase is circulated far and wide 
until it becomes fairly bromidic. Then the 
newspaper and magazine artists get to work 
and portray their ideals of " clean cut and 
aggressive young men," who are represented 
with hair brushed back, looking keen eyed 
and resolute, ready for any emergency. The 
same young men are even depicted in the 
ready-made clothing advertisements. Tens 
of thousands of young men, all over the 
country, make desperate efforts to model 
themselves after this pattern, thinking much 
the same thoughts, inspired by the same 
ambitions, following the same beaten paths. 
That is why Northcliffe tells us to stand- 
ardize our engines, but warns us not to 
standardize our men. The world doe$ not 



312 NORTHCLIFFE 

want standardized human beings. It wants 
originality. 

On one of her visits to New York, Lady 
NorthcHflfe discussed with an interviewer 
that always interesting subject, the Amer- 
ican woman. She had been much impressed 
by the types of femininity that she had seen 
in this country. "American women," she 
said, " are assuredly the most beautiful that 
I have ever seen. They have a grace and 
distinction all their own, and as for the at- 
tractive young girls, I have never seen any- 
thing like them. In no other country does 
one see so many well-dressed women as in 
the United States, and this appUes not to 
any particular class, but to all classes. An 
observant visitor, moreover, cannot fail to 
be impressed by the intellectuality and 
sound conmion sense as well as the bright- 
ness, vivacity, independence, self-rehance, 
initiative, and other good qualities which 
distinguish American women of the best 
type." As already mentioned. Lady North- 
cliffe is an " anti," and does not beUeve that 
the extension of the franchise to women is 
necessary for the world's progress. 

Lord Northchffe, who indorses all that 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 313 

Lady Northcliffe has said of American 
womanhood, and who shares much the same 
opinion in ^^egard to votes for women, 
nevertheless admires the way in which 
American women have set to work to get 
what they want in the matter of political 
rights. He considers it a great pity that 
in England the suffrage movement has been 
characterized by violence rather than by 
grace and attractiveness. As to suffrage in 
England, he believes it is a dead issue as far 
as militancy is concerned. " The militants 
who made the most noise," he says, "were 
the leaders of an immense nimiber of su- 
perfluous women who could not get hus- 
bands and had to do something." 

In an interview expressing his belief in 
the supremacy of man, Northcliffe re- 
marked: " There are 1,700,000 more women 
of voting age than men in England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland. If they were given the 
same franchise rights as the men, they 
would dominate the British Empire. No 
self-respecting man is going to be dominated 
by women. The men of England will not 
tolerate rule by women. Personally I am 
not against giving women the vote on a 



314 NORTHCLIFFE 

property basis, but the suffragists will not 
be satisfied with that." 

As already noted. Lord Northcliffe has 
seen a great deal of this country and has 
visited many of our winter and summer 
resorts. In the autumn of 1917, while 
heading the British War Commission, he 
gathered some impressions of Atlantic City 
when he attended the Chambers of Com- 
merce Convention which was held there. 

In a chat with a reporter after the meet- 
ing, Northcliffe said that he had been very 
favorably impressed by this popular resort, 
which he compared to Brighton, one of 
England's liveliest seaside places. As he 
strolled along the Board Walk, a number 
of objects attracted his attention. He 
gloated over the big electric advertising 
signs on the piers, and asked if a certain 
advertising scheme on the beach front had 
not derived its effectiveness from its clever 
unobtrusiveness. He commented on the 
similarity between Atlantic City and that 
famous corner table in the Cafe de Paris 
in the French capital, where, if you sit long 
enough, sooner or later you will see the 
whole world pass by. " Everybody," he 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 315 

observed, " seems to go to Atlantic City." 
Then he wanted to know why there was not 
an adequate convention hall in Atlantic 
City, with proper acoustics. Speakers at 
the Chambers of Commerce Convention, he 
remarked, had not been heard to good 
effect. 

As he walked on, making these observa- 
tions, Northcliife met an editor from Phila- 
delphia with whom he was acquainted. The 
editor was accompanied by two of his re- 
porters. " This is surprising," exclaimed 
Northchife. " Is the whole staff down 
here?" Then he added: "I suppose they 
have sent you to Atlantic City to escape 
from the gunmen." 

The dramatic quality of Philadelphia's 
Fifth Ward political reign of terror had 
apparently interested this observant jour- 
nalist. "A wonderful story!" he declared 
in admiration. " Blackjacking and murder 
going on just around the corner from Inde- 
pendence Hall. Good copy for the news- 
papers, eh? " 

NorthcUffe's judgment regarding Amer- 
ican news values was lightninghke. Appar- 
ently he would be well qualified to edit an 



316 NORTHCLIFFE 

American newspaper, but when somebody 
told him so and suggested that he might 
enter the newspaper field in this country, 
he replied that such an idea was absurd. 
" I have been asked frequently," he added, 
" whether I intend to embark in the news- 
paper business on this side of the Atlantic. 
My answer has been invariably that no man 
living can manage a paper by cable. For 
a foreigner to compete from a distance 
with your live and vigorous press would be 
an act of brief and expensive foolishness." 
In the course of this conversation North- 
cliffe showed that he had been a close ob- 
server of American methods of newspaper 
distribution. He asked why a certain New 
York daily paper was not delivered 
promptly in Washington, which he charac- 
terized as now being, in every sense, the 
capital of the nation. That he still adheres 
to his tabloid idea of journalism was shown 
when he asked why the newspapers could 
not be made a quarter of their present size 
in order to cut down the amount of white 
paper they needed. He scoffed at the idea 
of charging three cents for a newspaper 
instead of cutting down its size. 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 317 

It was at Atlantic City that the alert 
journalist inspected a mammoth typewriter 
placed on exhibition for advertising pur- 
poses. The machine was ten feet high, 
with a keyboard hke a cellar door and keys 
the size of saucers. He examined it closely, 
peering into its inwards from every angle. 
Then he said: "I see, I see! It works 
like a printing press." Then he departed, 
smiling with delight at this Yankee trick 
of advertising. 

The spirit of fraternity toward American 
newspapermen which Lord Northcliffe dis- 
played at Atlantic City was typical of his 
attitude at all times. In May, 1917, his 
friendship for the American press was 
shown in a thoroughly practical manner 
when he came to the rescue of newspaper 
publishers who were suffering from the 
paper famine. 

Owing to the scarcity of news-print paper 
some minor newspapers were almost on the 
point of suspension. As a means of relief. 
Lord Northchffe offered the entire output 
of his Newfoundland paper mills to the 
American Publishers' Association. At that 
time the Newfoundland mills were pro- 



318 NORTHCLIFFE 

ducing two hundred tons of paper a day, 
and there were thousands of tons of ground 
wood and sulphite for sale to American 
paper mills at prices considerably lower 
than the American quotations. 

Lord Northcliffe's offer having been ac- 
cepted, the American Publishers' Associa- 
tion formed a company to receive and dis- 
tribute the paper which he arranged to 
supply. In spite of the difficulty of freight 
transportation, this new corporation — the 
Publishers' Paper Company — proved that 
Newfoundland paper could be sold at lower 
prices than paper produced in the United 
States, although manufacturing costs are 
higher in Newfoundland. Many American 
publishers were thus enabled to get a supply 
of cheap paper, a fact which had some in- 
fluence in causing a general reduction of 
paper prices. 

An admirer of efficiency, Northcliffe has 
inspected some of our largest manufacturing 
establishments, such as the Edison Works 
at West Orange, New Jersey, the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, the 
Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport, 
Connecticut, the Bethlehem Steel Works, 



AMERICAN EXPERIENCES 319 

and the automobile plant of Henry Ford in 
Detroit. He was so much impressed by 
what he saw at the Ford factory that he 
wrote a special article on this subject for 
the London Times, Among the things that 
particularly interested him was the factory 
school in which English is taught to those 
unfamiliar with the language, fully a hun- 
dred dialects being spoken by the workmen. 

On leaving the factory, he remarked that 
he had been greatly impressed by the good 
physique and healthy appearance of most 
of the workers. " I hope," replied Mr. 
Ford, " that you also noticed that there is 
no hustling. I don't allow it." On this 
point Northcliffe was in perfect accord with 
the automobile manufacturer, as one of his 
favorite maxims is that work done in haste 
is seldom done well. 

In discussing the Ford plant and the 
system of high wages that prevails there, 
Northcliffe said: "The high-wage idea is 
very good in its way, but I recently met a 
business man named Filene, who has a 
large store in Boston, and he has adopted 
a better system. He pays his employees 
a certain percentage of his profits, and 



320 NORTHCLIFFE 

every worker, being a sharer in the business, 
is thus inspired to do his best. That plan 
will eventually be adopted in all large busi- 
nesses." 

The profit-sharing plan, it will be recalled, 
was introduced into the Harmsworth peri- 
odical business in the early days, and has 
done much toward building up the great 
organization now headed by Lord North- 
cliffe. 

Having visited this country during a 
period of twenty-four years, the keen-eyed 
British newspaper owner has constantly 
found much to interest him, and he has un- 
doubtedly derived much benefit from a cos- 
mopolitan exchange of views. Always on 
the lookout for new ideas, he has been able 
to adopt some that he has noted, for the 
benefit of his great enterprises. In this re- 
spect he has not only shown good judgment 
but has also displayed traits that are usually 
supposed to be distinctively American. In 
other words. Lord Northcliffe possesses, to 
a marked degree, that restless, tireless, am- 
bitious nature which makes up what is uni- 
versally regarded as the American spirit. 






bJ 




'U 








M 




o 




1— 1 




fe 




M-l 




o 




-M 




tn 




Oj 




O 


fl 


U 


o 


<+-( 


ft 


13 


u 


o 


0:1 




H 


1) 




•4-» 


u 

o 


5tl 

o 


bO 




PI 


•i-i 


• I-H 




• 1— 1 


3 


Ph 


0) 




s« 












o 




^ 




■«-> 




M 




o 




^ 




-^3 




V4 




o 




hJ 



XI 
AT THE FRONT 

As a virile writer and well-trained ob- 
server, Lord Northcliffe has found scope for 
his talents on the battlefields of Europe. 
In the course of several visits to the front 
he has had opportunities to see the vast 
armies of Great Britain and France in ac- 
tive service, and he has also studied the 
wonderful organization which has made 
their operations effective. He has noted 
what sort of men compose these armies, and 
incidentally he has interviewed the generals 
in command. 

Having gained a clear idea of the prin- 
cipal features of the world's greatest war. 
Lord Northcliffe embodied his impressions 
in a highly interesting book, entitled "At 
Jhe War," * which appeared about a year 
ago. Every page of this work fairly bristles 
with facts, incidents, and picturesque details, 

* See note page 355. 
321 



322 NORTHCLIFFE 

while at the same time the author has dis- 
closed phases of his own complex nature by- 
remarks that attract and impress the reader. 
Lord Northcliffe, in short, has presented, 
comprehensively and concisely, just the sort 
of information that people wish to get in 
regard to modern warfare. 

By some of his opponents Lord North- 
cliffe has been called ruthless, and in the 
hard, crushing blows that he has directed 
at certain things which displeased him he 
has justified that description. On the other 
hand, his praise of bravery and efficiency is 
just as frankly enthusiastic. He has also 
shown a spirit of deep sentiment in his 
touches of the pathetic, such as his account 
of the landing of young British soldiers in 
France and their departure for the front. 
What he witnessed took place at a port where 
transports constantly arrived and departed. 

At three o'clock one morning, so he re- 
lates, he was awakened by an English bugle 
call. Opening his window and looking out, 
he saw in the glare of the tall arc-lights a 
regiment of English soldiers which had just 
debarked. He heard the roll call. A few 
minutes later the transport on which they 



AT THE FRONT 323 

had arrived steamed away, and the young 
Britons, all new recruits, boarded trains to 
be conveyed to the front. When the arc- 
lights were extinguished and the soldiers 
had gone, the whole thing seemed like a 
dream, queer and mysterious. 

The next occasion on which he observed 
some fresh arrivals was in the daytime, when 
another contingent landed. The departure 
from England of those bright, fresh Enghsh 
lads — their faces looking so red beside their 
darker French allies — had been so recent 
that many of them still wore the flowers 
their sweethearts had given them on part- 
ing. They looked about earnestly and curi- 
ously, their officers obviously a little nervous 
as they marshaled them for the roll call. 
There was apparent an air of anxiety as to 
what the busy townspeople, hurrying to 
their mid-day meal, would think of them. 

But the French peasants, long accus- 
tomed to these scenes, took very little no- 
tice of the newcomers. A few women 
venders went among the soldiers, however, 
selling them oranges and cigarettes, and 
encouraging them with good-natured chaff. 
Then these men were stowed away on trains 



324 NORTHCLIFFE 

and taken off to points all over northern 
France, so that eventually he found them 
in the most unexpected places, building 
great bridges, running trains and steam- 
boats, digging trenches, making roads near 
railways, and erecting huts. Wherever they 
were they always looked neat and spruce. 

Northchffe confesses that he took great 
pride in the fact that the faces of the Brit- 
ish soldiers differed from those of the Ger- 
mans. They were full of individuality. He 
was also proud of an outstanding charac- 
teristic of the " Tommy," his insistence upon 
smartness, and in wearing his clothes in a 
manner that clearly distinguished him in a 
war that caused English, French, and Bel- 
gians to work together. 

It was at Verdun that the observant 
author gained one of his first glimpses of 
the war. He went there from Paris, mak- 
ing the journey of 150 miles in an auto- 
mobile, as the railways were blocked with 
cannon, ammunition, food supplies, and 
troops. Long before he reached the French 
lines he found signs of war. Even thirty 
miles away the villages were filled with 
soldiers, resting or waiting to be called into 



AT THE FRONT 325 

action. There were great fields full of ar- 
tillery — " parks," as they are called — and 
vast plains covered with wagons. 

The first impression of the war, at close 
range, says Northcliife, is the immensity 
and complication of it. The war zone is a 
world apart. Immersed in it, one becomes 
so absorbed in its activities that the outer 
world is forgotten. These activities con- 
tinue night and day. 

The idea of generals galloping into battle 
at the head of their armies, of Napoleon 
and Wellington glaring at each other 
through telescopes, as they are said to have 
done at Waterloo, is destroyed in modern 
warfare. As Northcliffe points out, army 
operations are not directed from the battle- 
field as of old. Far away from the firing 
line — from five to twenty-five miles — are 
the headquarters of the various armies. The 
German and French generals at the battles 
of Verdun were at least twenty miles 
apart. 

The headquarters of a modern general 
might, with a slight stretch of imagination, 
be compared to the offices of a great railroad 
contractor, with its clerks, typists, and in- 



326 NORTHCLIFFE 

numerable telephones. Everything is con- 
ducted in a matter-of-fact, business way. 
Indeed, the author heard much less talk of 
a particular battle at the front than he 
would have heard at home. 

Modern warfare is a horrible, grim, me- 
chanical business, says Northcliffe. Very 
seldom is there a touch of the color or ro- 
mance which surrounds it in the popular 
imagination. He rarely heard a band play- 
ing in the war zone, and the only sign of 
picturesque warfare that he saw at Verdun 
was a squadron of lancers that he passed 
one day, with their pennants gaily stream- 
ing, preceded by a corps of buglers. 

Northchffe was much impressed by the 
splendid organization of the French army, 
and the physique, eiBciency, and fighting 
spirit of the French soldier. The superb 
calm of the French people and the equip- 
ment of their cheery soldiery convinced him 
that the men in the German machine could 
never have conquered, even if France had 
not been helped by Russia, the five British 
nations, and Belgium, Serbia, Italy, and 
Japan. 

When Northcliffe gathered the material 



AT THE FRONT 327 

for his book. General Joffre was in com- 
mand of the French army. The author 
visited the French headquarters, where he 
found that the pride and panoply of war 
had gone, if indeed they had ever existed. 
Excepting for the presence of two orderlies 
at the gate, the official residence of the 
commander-in-chief had the appearance of 
an ordinary hotel. Pere Joffre received the 
distinguished British visitor at the ap- 
pointed hour, in a small room, where he 
was seated at a long, narrow table with a 
white-felt top. His manner and conversa- 
tion were unaffected and direct. 

The famous general's routine, at that 
time, was simple in the extreme. He con- 
ferred with the leaders of his staff at 6.30 
A. M., when all reports and dispatches of 
the night were discussed and orders given 
for the day. Lunch was served at eleven. 
At noon there was another conference, and 
at one Joffre went out driving or walking 
until four. At 8.30 p. m. there was a third 
conference, and at nine o'clock punctually — 
no matter what happened — Joffre went to 
bed. At the Battle of the Marne, which 
began September 5, the orders, written by 



328 NORTHCLIFFE 

Joffre, had been drawn up on August 27. 
Most of the French officers are young men, 
and even General Petain is still in his 
fifties. 

Northcliffe's description of the campaign 
at Verdun abounds in vivid incidents. The 
town, he says, lies in a great basin, with the 
river Meuse winding through the valley. 
Some groups of fir trees on the hills give 
the country a certain resemblance to Scot- 
land. 

As one approaches the firing line the 
volume of sound becomes louder and more 
terrific. When he visited the front, two 
young ofiicers who accompanied him ex- 
plained what was taking place. This they 
did by means of signs, for the noise was 
sometimes too great to permit conversation 
except in yells. He had several narrow 
escapes. Everybody at the front has had 
similar experiences. He did not like it, 
and does not believe that any one else does. 
Nevertheless, it is not true that every bullet 
has its billet and that every shell does ma- 
terial damage. In April, 1916, the Ger- 
mans fired 15,000,000 shells during the bat- 
tles of Verdun. Probably not one in a 



AT THE FRONT 329 

hundred had any bearing upon the mihtary 
result. 

The effect of these terrific bombardments 
is pecuHar. In some villages both sides of 
a street were laid in ruins, while here and 
there a cottage remained undamaged. Deep 
holes were made in the earth, as if some 
convulsion of nature had taken place. Oc- 
casionally a whole area had been bombarded 
out of recognition — buildings, trees, and 
trenches so smashed and destroyed as to 
resemble the effects of an earthquake. 

The district of Verdun is in one of the 
coldest parts of France, and one subject to 
frequent and sudden changes of tempera- 
ture. On one occasion the opposing French 
and German trenches were so close to each 
other as to be within talking range. The 
trench parapets, which had been frozen hard, 
suddenly melted and subsided, leaving two 
lines of men standing face to face without 
any obstacle between them. It was a case 
of wholesale murder on one side or the 
other, or a temporary unofficial peace until 
fresh parapet protections could be made. 
The French and German officers, grasping 
the situation, turned their backs, as if un- 



330 NORTHCLIFFE 

willing ofBcially to countenance such an un- 
warlike proceeding, while the men on each 
side rebuilt their parapets without firing 
a shot. 

After seeing Verdun Northcliffe visited 
Reims, where he found the inhabitants wear- 
ing gas-masks as part of their ordinary ap- 
parel. Excepting that the stores were 
closed, as on Sunday, and the streets de- 
serted, the city showed at first sight no signs 
of bombardment. Later on, however, in 
passing through the Boulevard de la Paix, — 
strangely named, — ^he noticed whole mansions 
in ruins, and the cathedral square was devas- 
tated. Fragments of the famous colored 
glass, the author remarks, have been gath- 
ered and set in rings. It is difficult to dis- 
tinguish the blue glass from sapphire. 

In portraying the havoc wrought by Ger- 
man shells, Northchffe adds a dramatic 
touch. It was late in the afternoon when 
he entered the cathedral, and a sunbeam, 
undiluted by the broken windows, disclosed 
a horrible discoloration on the stone pave- 
ment. " That," said the guide, with much 
feeling, " is the blood of the wounded Ger- 
man prisoners who sought refuge in the 



AT THE FRONT 331 

cathedral and were done to death by their 
own incendiary shells. That sign we shall 
keep forever as a warning to the world of 
Hun ferocity." 

The strangest scene in Reims was in the 
great champagne cellars, where the majority 
of the native population, chiefly feminine, 
was at work. Deep underground, thousands 
of women were busily filling and turning the 
acres of bottles that were arranged in won- 
derful subterranean highways, the Pommery 
cellars alone forming whole streets of wine. 

On his various trips to the front. Lord 
Northcliffe had ample opportunities to see 
the British army in action. He pays a 
high tribute to the unswerving efficiency of 
the " Tommies " of England, the High- 
landers of Scotland, and the fighting Irish. 
He has also words of unstinted praise for 
the contingents from other parts of the 
British Empire, notably the Canadians, 
Australians, and New Zealanders. 

As to the colonials, he was quick to 
answer the much discussed question of dis- 
cipline, and to point out that when it comes 
to fighting their discipline is as rigid as the 
most exacting commander could desire. In 



332 NORTHCLIFFE 

time of battle the men obey their officers 
implicitly. The spirit of the colonials is ex- 
cellent. When General Birdwood, com- 
mander of the AustraUans, praised his men 
for their bravery, and asked: "Are you 
ready for more when the time comes? " the 
answer came back in a great shout, " Yes! " 

A strong believer in the unity of the Brit- 
ish Empire, Northcliffe rejoices at the 
meeting of Englishmen, Scotchmen, and 
Irishmen on French soil. Their interchange 
of views will, he prophesies, materially alter 
British politics when the boys get home. 
The advent of Canadians, Australians, and 
New Zealanders, with their attachment to 
the mother country, foreshadows, he believes, 
an indissoluble bond of empire which will 
have a vast influence on the world's future. 

Lord Northchffe seems to take great 
pleasure in destroying most illusions about 
war. For instance, in describing the British 
headquarters, he says they were not estab- 
lished in a palatial chateau but in a modest 
dwelHng, while outwardly the life of the 
commander-in-chief. General Sir Douglas 
Haig, might have been that of a Scottish 
laird at home on his estate. 



AT THE FRONT 333 

He quickly sketches the habits and ap- 
pearance of the famous leader, who is 
known to the British public only by name. 
Lithe, alert, of distinguished bearing, and 
good looking, is the author's description. 
" He does not waste words," says North- 
cliffe, "not because he is silent or unsym- 
pathetic — ^it is because he uses them as he 
uses soldiers, sparingly but always with 
method." When General Haig is inter- 
ested in his subject, as in expressing his 
admiration for the new armies and their 
officers, or in testifying to the stubborn 
bravery of the German machine gunners, 
it is not diiBcult to discern from his accent 
that he is what is known north of the Tweed 
as a Fifer, and possessed of the Fifer pa- 
tience and oblivion to all external surround- 
ings that makes him so difficult to beat in 
golf, in business affairs, or in war. 

Neither good news nor news not so good 
seems to affect this blue-eyed commander or 
to interfere with his day's work. There are 
all sorts of minor criticisms of the com- 
mander-in-chief at home, mainly because 
the majority of people know nothing about 
him. Sir Douglas Haig is fifty-four years 



334 NORTHCLIFFE 

of age. Many of his staff are much 
younger. A grave, serious body of men, 
they have inspired confidence from one end 
of the hne to the other. With them, in 
every case, " Can it be done? " takes prece- 
dence of "It can't be done." One of Gen- 
eral Haig's favorite maxims is that war is 
a young man's game. 

Northchffe praises the brave little Bel- 
gian army, which gave the Allies invaluable 
breathing time when the war began, and has 
been fighting longer than any of them. 
Since the early days of 1914 the army has 
been much renewed, and considering its size 
it is a perfect force, excellently organized 
and efficiently directed. That the Belgians 
are well equipped with big howitzers, 75 's, 
and machine guns, and that every gun has 
a plentiful supply of shells, is known to 
Hans and Fritz everywhere along the Bel- 
gian front. 

Roughly speaking, the British have raised 
an army of about four millions. Part of 
these troops hold the western front, some 
are in reserve along the line, others are in 
Macedonia, Egypt, Saloniki, or Africa, 
while a certain proportion are training at 



AT THE FRONT 335 

home. The men in this vast army must have 
three meals a day. Their clothes, boots, 
underwear, and equipment must be kept in 
good order and renewed at regular intervals. 
Their horses, mules, and motor vehicles must 
have the wherewithal to live or be used. In 
short, the British army must be maintained 
as a going, effective concern. Consequently, 
a wonderful system of organization, man- 
aged by experts in every branch, has been 
built up until there is neither muddUng nor 
inefficiency. 

An admirer of efficiency and economy, 
Northcliffe was much impressed by the im- 
provement in army organization which had 
taken place since the war began. His ad- 
miration was particularly aroused by the 
telephone system, which would have done 
credit to an English city far away from 
the war zone. At points where men were 
burying the blackened corpses of Germans, 
and where the sound of big guns made it 
necessary to shout in order to be heard, he 
found that telephone wires had been in- 
stalled. War without the telephone would 
have seemed impossible. Every head of a 
department in the British lines had a tele- 



336 NORTHCLIFFE 

phone close at hand, and the wires were 
even connected with the trunk system of 
the French government. Interpreters were 
stationed in the exchanges. 

With ahnost an American fondness for I 

speed, the author was dehghted to learn 
that a staff officer at the front was able to 
call up London, Paris, and seaport bases 
in France within an hour. He describes 
additional means of communication, such as 
line and wireless telegraphy, and bestows a 
compliment on the Signal Corps, on whose 
achievements so much depends. 

Of particular interest to American readers 
is Northcliffe's description of the army be- 
hind the army, of which the pubhc has but 
little knowledge. Thousands of men in the 
rear are engaged in every conceivable kind 
of occupation, from railway construction to 
preparing food or salvaging waste products. 
Over two hundred trains a day and 35,000 
loaded cars every week are required to sup- 
ply the British army with food, ammunition, 
engineers' stores, broken stone and other 
material for road making, and trench sup- 
ports of wood and iron. 

One of the largest field bakeries turns 



AT THE FRONT 337 

out 222,000 loaves a day, or 440,000 rations. 
At one base on the northern line there were 
40,000 tons of oats and 32,000 tons of hay 
for the horses. Thousands of trucks, cars, 
and motor cycles — fifty milUon pounds of 
equipment on rubber tires — make up the 
mechanical transportation equipment of the 
British army in France alone. Four mil- 
lion gallons of gasoline are used every 
month. A complicated system of repair 
shops is in operation. 

With his customary news sense, North- 
cliffe realized at once that what every 
mother, father, sister, and sweetheart wanted 
to know was, how the boys were treated at 
the front. He has graphically shown that 
the British army is well fed, and as a vivid 
illustration of this he describes huge pyra- 
mids of jams, pickles, bacon, beef, butter, 
and cheese that he has seen. 

Having been one of the first advocates 
of auto-mobilization, Northcliffe admits that 
the motor dispatch riders — " the noisy nui- 
sances of peace-time roads," as he terms 
them — ^have become a prime factor in the 
prompt waging of war. 

The cry which has become familiar to 



338 NORTHCLIFFE 

American ears, " Speed up! " was raised by 
Lord Northcliffe in the early days of the 
war, and some of his advice to his own peo- 
ple seems applicable on this side of the 
Atlantic. Those at home, he declares, can 
help to speed up the machine if they will 
only put their strength into the task. He 
was prompt in seeing the necessity for 
standardization, especially in motor trucks 
and other branches of mechanical transport. 

He found that two score different types 
of motor vehicles were in use at the British 
front. Each required its own spare parts 
in order that repairs might be speedily 
made. He lays stress on the fact that delay 
in war time is fatal. The Germans, he ex- 
plains, have comparatively few types of 
motor vehicles, and for that reason are not 
obliged to keep such a large variety of spare 
parts. The British equipment, on the other 
hand, requires 50,000 different kinds. 

Northcliffe devotes much space to de- 
scriptions of aeroplanes, and particularly to 
the fighting planes which are fitted with 
searchlights and carry one or two machine 
guns. What the development of the aero- 
plane means to England is a subject of 



AT THE FRONT 339 

supreme importance to Britons, especially 
in view of the fact that England is now less 
than twenty minutes by air from the conti- 
nent of Europe. He adds: "Let it be 
realized that aeroplanes are very cheap to 
make and will become cheaper. The vast 
change that this invention has produced in 
the position of England does not even now 
seem to be understood by one person in a 
hundred." 

In emphasizing the fact that the world's 
great war is a war of machinery as well as 
bravery, the author says that the first im- 
pression of it is chaos, confusion, and im- 
mensity. Then follows the more mature 
impression that everything is conducted with 
the clockwork regularity of a great business. 
He describes the supplies at a base which 
furnished 100,000 men with horses, bicycles, 
rifles, guns large and small, munitions, 
observation balloons, aeroplanes, medical 
stores, portable hospitals, ambulances, foods 
of every description, cartridges, forage, and 
harness. By multiplying 100,000 ten or 
twenty times, some idea of the immensity 
of the war business is gained. Its colossal 
expense is shown by the fact that every 



340 NORTHCLIFFE 

British soldier costs the nation between 
twenty-five and thirty dollars a week to 
maintain. 

The salvage system impressed North- 
cliffe as one of the wonders of the war. 
To-day, before the fume and reek of a 
battle have disappeared or the dead are 
buried, the Salvage Corps begins work on 
the shell-churned field, collecting unused 
cartridges, machine-gun belts, unexploded 
bombs, old shell cases, damaged rifles, haver- 
sacks, steel helmets, and even old rags. 
The latter are sold for $250 a ton. 

According to official reports, it may be 
added, the Department of Salvage has 
saved the British government $12,000,000 
a year on uniforms alone. Four thousand 
women are engaged in the work of renova- 
tion and repairing. Army blankets, boots, 
capes, and coats of rubber and leather are 
also gathered for reclamation. One million 
pairs of boots were salvaged in 1916. The 
salvage system extends everywhere, and 
nothing is immune. Every gasoHne can, 
for instance, is used and reused. Even 
hospital dressings are sterilized and sold as 
cotton waste. Wooden boxes and nails are 



AT THE FRONT 341 

put to use. Grease is collected at the camps 
and employed in the manufacture of glycer- 
ine and soap. Even potato peelings are 
sold to French farmers as hog feed. 

Briefly, yet clearly, Northcliflfe describes 
every phase of the training that new British 
troops undergo behind the lines, such as 
trench practice in actual facsimile, trench 
gas attacks in which the deadly gas is used, 
bombing with real bombs, crater fighting, 
and machine-gun practice. In fact, all the 
elements that enter into real warfare are 
assiduously demonstrated at the rear until 
the men are perfectly drilled. 

At the end of 1917 Lord NorthcUffe had 
an opportunity of seeing the American 
forces in the field, and although his account 
of what he saw forms no part of his book, 
it can appropriately be added to his other 
impressions. 

The alert British journalist traveled to 
American headquarters with Generals 
Pershing and Bliss, Admiral Benson, Colo- 
nel House, Ambassador Sharp, and other 
officials. The party left Paris at eight 
o'clock in the morning in a special train, 
and returned at ten at night. This, Lord 



342 NORTHCLIFFE 

Northcliffe says, will give some idea of the 
distance. 

At a small railway station, some miles 
from headquarters, a guard of honor was 
waiting to receive the American army chiefs, 
and the party, on leaving the train, passed 
through half a mile of grim, hardy young 
Americans in trench helmets, standing at 
attention. They appeared to be in fine 
health and spirits. 

" Eastern France," says Northcliffe, "was 
under a frost — not the dazzhng, keen at- 
mosphere of New York, but a sunny, damp 
atmosphere to which Americans are un- 
accustomed but are bearing well. The air 
was full of the thudding of great guns in 
an artillery battle which a young West 
Point officer told me had been proceeding 
without cessation for three days and three 
nights some miles away to the east." 

In American automobiles the visitors were 
taken straight across the country, ignoring 
the roads, until the crest of a low ravine was 
reached, where thousands of the first con- 
tingent of the American expeditionary 
force were being trained. Here an exhibi- 
tion drill was witnessed. American aero- 



AT THE FRONT 343 

planes were circling overhead, and violent 
clangs of bursting hand grenades indicated 
that the bombing schools were practicing. 
The first exhibition was rifle practice with 
landscape targets. It was good shooting, 
the high average of 75 per cent of hits being 
recorded. 

Then followed practice with a trench 
mortar, well known to the British army. 
The men had thoroughly mastered the prin- 
ciples of this. Later on some bomb throw- 
ing took place, in which the participants 
demonstrated that the throw is not the 
baseball pitch, but a complete over-arm 
semicircle, somewhat resembling over-arm 
cricket bowling. Then came an exhibition 
of trench fighting, bayonet practice, and a 
fine quarter of an hour's work with French 
75 guns at a range of a mile and a half. 
The target was a little wood, and after the 
first four shots the gunners got the range 
almost every time. The spotting was done 
by an aeroplane which hovered overhead 
and indicated hits by wireless. 

Colonel House, who is a Texan, took up 
a rifle and did some good shooting himself. 
Excellent wooden models of enemy snipers 



344 NORTHCLIFFE 

were concealed among the rocks and foliage 
at a distance of some hundreds of yards. 
It was the object of the pupils in this part 
of the war game to draw a sudden bead on 
an enemy dummy and get it. Many had 
become adepts in sniping. 

The party returned to the railway, and 
after a short journey reached General 
Pershing's headquarters, a large French 
barracks that had lately been occupied by 
a distinguished French regiment. The build- 
ings had been refitted, steam heated, and 
electric wired, and were in telephonic com- 
munication with Paris and the various parts 
of the American army. Interesting infor- 
mation was given at headquarters by mem- 
bers of General Pershing's staff, which 
showed that American adaptability had very 
quickly assimilated the best points of the 
British and French training arrived at after 
three and a half years of actual warfare, to 
which had been added certain ideas and alter- 
ations necessary for an army whose home 
base was three thousand miles away. 

Lord Northcliffe was much impressed by 
the strong personality of General Pershing, 
who has been described by an'tAmerican 



AT THE FRONT 345 

writer as " erect, square jawed, with keen 
eyes, and a mouth firmly indicated beneath 
a close-clipped mustache, having all the con- 
centration of a master chess player." The 
British observer also gained a highly favor- 
able impression of the spirit of the American 
officers and men, and the state of their prepa- 
ration. Every branch of the organization 
was admirably managed, with young men, 
full of energy, at the head of each depart- 
ment. 

In addition to describing the armies in 
the field. Lord Northcliff e has devoted much 
space to the auxiliary organizations that are 
at work, such as the Red Cross societies. 
All the profits resulting from the sale of his 
war book, it may be added, have been pre- 
sented to the British Red. Cross Society and 
the Order of St. John. 

In an account of the Red Cross hospitals, 
he describes how the world's greatest sur- 
geons, including King George's doctor, at- 
tend the wounded of the rank and file. 
There is, in fact, no finer tribute in the book 
than that which the author pays to the war 
doctors. "We are so accustomed," he says, 
" to considering doctors as part of our daily 



346 NORTHCLIFFE 

life, or as workers in speckless, palatial hos- 
pitals, that we have hardly visualized the man 
who shares the hell of the front trench with 
the fighters, armed with only two panniers 
of urgent drugs, instruments, and field dress- 
ings, his acetylene lamp and electric torch. 
If there be degrees of chivalry, the highest 
award should be accorded to the medical pro- 
fession, which at once forsook its lucrative 
practice in a great rally of self-sacrifice." 

Some idea of the dangers which army doc- 
tors have to face is shown in the figures for 
the three months of June, July, and August, 
1916, when 53 officers of the Royal Medical 
Corps were killed and 208 wounded, while 
of non-coms and privates 260 were killed and 
1212 wounded. 

The elaborate and efficient system of car- 
ing for the wounded is carefully explained 
by Lord Northcliffe, who traces the prog- 
ress of the wounded from the regimental 
head base, where the doctor with his stretcher 
bearers waits alongside of the men. As the 
stretcher bearers pass in with their loads, 
there is a rapid diagnosis, an antiseptic ap- 
plication, a hastily written label tied upon 
the victim's breast, and the wounded man is 



AT THE FRONT 347 

borne away in the open to the next stage, 
the advance dressing station, which is some- 
times pushed right up to the firing hne. The 
stretcher bearers thereupon begin again an- 
other dangerous journey rearwards. 

The comforting assurance is given that by 
far the greater proportion of the wounded 
are sHghtly hit and are walking cases — so 
hghtly hurt in large numbers of instances 
that where the stretcher bearers themselves 
have fallen, slightly wounded soldiers have 
borne them out of danger. 

Northcliffe's picture of an advance dress- 
ing station at West Pe'ronne is vividly in- 
teresting. " We reached it," he says, " on 
a heavy, sultry afternoon, by hiding our- 
selves behind anything possible. Dust and 
smoke gave the atmosphere of a coming 
thunder storm; the thudding of the guns on 
both sides was incessant. Now and then was 
heard the brisk note of a machine gun, 
which sounds exactly like a boy rasping a 
stick along palings. 

" There was no sign of anything in the 
nature of a hospital or anything above 
ground. I was getting tired of being told 
to lie down flat every few seconds to avoid 



348 NORTHCLIFFE 

bursting shells, when I saw a couple of 
stretcher bearers coming through the haze 
as from nowhere, and then disappear under- 
ground. * It is underneath there,' I was 
told by my guide, whose daily duty it was 
to inspect medical outposts." 

Getting down into a trench, Northcliffe 
was guided through an underground maze, 
part of a former German trench system, 
which had been turned into a hospital. He 
never saw a more touching sight, he says, 
than this underground station, where seventy 
wounded men were being attended to by 
doctors and assistants, and waiting to be 
removed as soon as the place could be va- 
cated. One of these collecting stations which 
he had visited two days previously had been 
shelled by the enemy. By a strange chance 
the only victims were a number of German 
prisoners. 

To prevent mistakes, each wounded man's 
label is checked at every point that he 
reaches, with as much care as a registered 
letter receives on its way through the post. 
The casualty clearing station, with its nurses 
and sunny gardens into which the beds are 
carried so that the wounded men can enjoy 



AT THE FRONT 349 

■ ; 

the birds, flowers, and trees, seemed like an 
oasis after the grim desolation of the Somme 
heights. Although he is a " bear " for work 
himself, Northcliffe was astounded at the 
tireless activity of doctors and nurses. He 
frankly admits that he had never thought it 
was possible for human beings to work so 
many hours, although the war, it is true, 
seems to double the energy of every one en- 
gaged in it. 

One of the most important hospitals of the 
British Red Cross is at Rouen, where the 
Grand Seminaire, a modern building, has 
been reserved for wounded officers. Here 
there are accommodations for 250 patients, 
who receive the attention of a large medical 
staff. In addition to an X-ray department, 
there is a pathological laboratory in which 
important work is carried on by an expert 
bacteriologist. A room equipped for mas- 
sage and general electrical treatment has also 
been provided. 

An interesting branch of war work is the 
Record Department, which keeps complete 
data of every British soldier from the mo- 
ment of his arrival in France until his de- 
parture or death. A branch office enables 



350 NORTHCLIFFE 

relatives to ascertain the time and place of 
burial of every officer or private who is 
killed, whether he comes from Great 
Britain or the colonies. This information 
is important in cases where wills are 
probated. 

With delicacy. Lord Northcliffe describes 
how the effects of dead soldiers are collected 
when the bodies of the slain are reverently 
searched. All property is carefully listed, 
and the list accompanies the familiar belong- 
ings to one of the great bases on the lines 
of communication. Here the bag containing 
the mementos is opened by two clerks, who 
check the list once more. The bag is then 
sealed and sent home. He watched the open- 
ing of one of these pathetic parcels at the 
time of its final checking. It contained a 
few trinkets, some pennies, a pipe and to- 
bacco pouch, a photograph of wife and baby, 
a trench ring made of an enemy fuse, and a 
small diary. 

Northcliffe has much praise for the 
Y.M.C.A., which has provided huts and clubs 
in which war-worn soldiers can find rest and 
recreation. The Church Army, the Salva- 
tion Army, and other organizations have also 



AT THE FRONT 351 

done excellent work in supplying comforts 
for the men. 

He pays an eloquent tribute to the women 
of the war, whose self-sacrifice as nurses and 
volunteer workers leaves him at a loss for 
appropriate words of praise. " Women," he 
says, " have taken to every kind of war 
work with a rapidity and adaptability that 
have certainly not been shown by all mem- 
bers of the ruling sex. It has been openly 
admitted that in many ammunition factories 
women in their eagerness to defeat the 
enemy are expending more energy than men 
working in the same shops." 

As the result of his interviews with Brit- 
ish officers and men, Northchffe confirmed 
the impression gained by other investigators, 
that the German is a good soldier when ad- 
vancing with numbers under strict disci- 
pline, and is undoubtedly brave, but when 
left to himself he lacks the initiative which 
distinguishes the British and American sol- 
dier. He has harsh words for the Germans, 
especially the Prussians and Bavarians, who, 
he says, are extremely cruel. The German 
non-coms when taken prisoners treat their 
men with a bullying savagery that is aston- 



352 NORTHCLIFFE 

ishing, while German officer prisoners pay 
absolutely no attention to their men, even 
those who are wounded. 

He was told that the Germans treat their 
slightly wounded with great care because 
they wish to get them back into the firing 
line quickly. The badly wounded are neg- 
lected. Indeed, he observes, the wounded 
man is not the hero in war that he is sup- 
posed to be. The object of both sides is to 
win, and while every care is taken of the 
wounded, priority is given to the forwarding 
of fighting men. 

Like many other observers, Northcliffe 
was impressed by the wretched appearance 
of the German prisoners, many of whom 
were undersized, ill fed, and untrained. He 
refers to the difference between the treat- 
ment accorded to German prisoners in 
France and in England. The authorities in 
England seem disposed to hide the prisoners, 
while in France they work in public and are 
contented with their lot. Excepting for the 
letters " P. G." {Prisonnier de Guerre) on 
the tags on their coats, he found it difficult 
to realize that middle-aged Hans with his 
pipe and young Fritz with his cigarette were 



AT THE FRONT 353 

' ■ 

prisoners at all. This caused him to declare 
emphatically that the sooner the German 
prisoners in England were put to work to 
assist in shortening the war, the better it 
would be. 

On one of his trips to the Continent, 
Northcliffe visited the Italian front. That 
was in the early days, when the Italian army 
had pushed forward into Austrian territory. 
He has described the gallantry of that ad- 
vance over the Dolomite Alps in the face of 
almost insurmountable difficulties. 

The brutalities of the Austrians, he dis- 
covered, were similar to those practiced by 
the Germans. The Italian slain were con- 
stantly found mutilated. He was shown 
some terrible spiked maces habitually used 
by the Austrians to break the skulls of the 
wounded. Equally barbarous were thongs 
with leaden balls attached to them, which 
the Austrian non-coms used in driving lag- 
gards into the fighting line. 

General Cadorna, who was then the Ital- 
ian commander-in-chief, has been described 
by NorthcUife as a quick-moving man of 
sixty-six, and the most humorous of the gen- 
erals in the war. He had a glitter in his 



354 NORTHCLIFFE 

grey eyes that reminded one of Pierpont 
Morgan. The resemblance also applied to 
the character of the two men, for Morgan, 
like Cadorna, was kindly disposed, although 
merciless and adamant when necessary. 

Northcliffe was surprised to find that in 
the talks between Italian soldiers and Aus- 
trian prisoners English was the only lan- 
guage in which they could converse. Inves- 
tigation disclosed that thousands of Italians 
and Austrians had worked in the United 
States. The English they used was not the 
Enghsh of England, he observes, but in 
many cases it was a New York dialect. 

As a newspaperman, Lord Northcliff e was 
gratified to notice that the lessening of the 
censorship had permitted real war news to 
come from the front. The fact that able 
correspondents are allowed to tell freely and 
frankly what is going on enables readers 
with imagination to grasp the magnitude of 
the war, and to realize that the equivalent 
of the South African campaign or the 
Crimean War is being fought in France 
practically every month. 

What is needed by the Allies as well as 
neutrals is a continuous demonstration by 



AT THE FRONT 355 

skilled writers, artists, lecturers, cinemato- 
graph operators, and photographers of what 
is happening, in order to impress the facts 
of the war on the people who are so lavishly 
pouring out their blood and treasure to over- 
throw German tyranny and to make freedom 
possible throughout the world. 

All the profits accruing from the sale of Lord NorthcliflFe's 
Book "At the War" (George H. Doran Company, New York; 
Hodder & Stoughton, London) are devoted to the work of the 
Red Cross. Nearly $40,000 has been so raised and disbursed. 



XII 
THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 

When it was announced, in May, 1917, 
that the British government had decided to 
send Lord NorthcHffe to the United States 
as head of a special mission, for the pur- 
pose of reorganizing the vast system of 
purchasing and forwarding supphes, which 
had been in operation since the war began, 
it was agreed that no better choice for the 
position could have been made. His tact, 
his energy, his wide experience of Ameri- 
can affairs, and his genius in handling great 
business matters were all factors in favor 
of his success in directing this important 
work. 

By the American press Lord Northcliffe's 
coming was hailed as a great event. Most 
Americans had heard of his wonderful 
career. They had not forgotten his great 
fight against British military inefficiency in 
1915, when his victory in the famous " Bat- 

856 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 357 

tie of Shells " saved England from disaster. 
They also remembered that for years he 
had been at the forefront of every progres- 
sive movement in Great Britain. 

On the fourth of June the British com- 
missioners embarked secretly on a fast ship, 
and made the voyage from England to New 
York. Every precaution had been taken 
against German spies before leaving, and 
during the trip a sharp watch was kept for 
submarines, but fortunately no periscope 
was sighted. 

When the commissioners arrived at New 
York, they were greeted formally by repre- 
sentatives of the United States government 
and other officials. Lord Northcliffe was 
also greeted informally by a large gather- 
ing of newspapermen. He was interviewed 
and photographed. Stories of his arrival, 
coupled with biographical sketches, ap- 
peared in every important newspaper. 

As in England, Lord Northcliffe was not 
oblivious to the himiors of the censorship. 
The day after his arrival one of the New 
York newspapers, in attempting to follow 
censorship rules, naively announced that 
" Lord Northcliffe arrived at an American 



358 NORTHCLIFFE 

port yesterday and went at once to the 
Hotel Gotham." When a reporter asked 
him what he thought of the censorship, he 
remarked drily : " I cannot discuss the sub- 
ject, but that sentence, I think, speaks for 
itself." 

Lord Northcliffe's headquarters at the 
Hotel Gotham in Fifth Avenue at once be- 
came a center of attraction. From day to 
day they were crowded with visitors of 
every description, from financiers and heads 
of important industries, military men, and 
politicians down to " men with schemes," 
men with something to sell, and the usual 
throngs of reporters. One afternoon the 
callers included the president of the largest 
banking institution outside of Wall Street, 
the president of an important Chicago bank, 
and the head of a great manufacturing com- 
pany. A staff of secretaries was kept busy 
receiving and sorting these visitors, a large 
proportion of whom were seen by Lord 
Northcliffe himself. 

In spite of the hot weather which pre- 
vailed at the time. Lord Northcliffe dis- 
patched his business with an amount of 
geniality that impressed all who saw him. 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 359 

He met newspaper representatives as often 
as possible, outlined to them the work of 
the mission, and incidentally counteracted 
many false reports concerning British in- 
activity in the war which had been circu- 
lated by German propagandists. The 
American press, keen and eager, new to the 
war, drew upon his experiences at the front 
with avidity. He was able to dispel many 
erroneous impressions regarding the actual 
state of affairs. 

Shortly after his arrival. Lord North- 
cliffe opened offices for the mission in a 
new building in upper Fifth Avenue, and 
a large staff was speedily organized in order 
to deal with executive matters. At the same 
time another department was established in 
a skyscraper situated in the center of the 
financial district. Here another staff was 
installed. Nimierous branch offices already 
existed in various parts of the country, and 
these were included in the general plan of 
reorganization. 

As soon as the preliminary work was 
completed. Lord Northcliffe went to Wash- 
ington to carry on his work there. After 
meeting the President and the principal 



360 NORTHCLIFFE 

leaders in the government and receiving the 
cooperation of the British Embassy, he 
opened offices in one of the largest build- 
ings and gathered another capable staff. 

With President Wilson he was at once on 
cordial terms. Their respect and liking for 
each other gained with each meeting. To 
Lord Northcliffe the President appeared to 
be " a mixture of Scottish caution combined 
with tenacity and American unexpectedness 
— a man of great determination, clarity of 
vision, and fair-mindedness." 

During his stay in Washington, Lord 
Northcliffe's sunny disposition had its usual 
effect upon all whom he met. His witty 
comments upon men and affairs entertained 
them. He was all that Americans sup- 
posed an Englishman not to be. Whether 
he was among university professors, poli- 
ticians, members of the learned professions, 
or business men, the impression made was 
the same — that of a swift observer, of a man 
quick to grasp essentials, of a nature slow 
to impute evil, but impatient of dullness 
or incapacity, of a personality which com- 
pelled the epithet " great." 
I While he was at the capital he made a 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 361 

number of new friends in official circles, 
with whom he discussed politics and played 
golf. He won the hearts of the local news- 
papermen by his readiness in giving inter- 
views that were full of interest, and with the 
freemasonry of journalism he did every- 
thing possible to help even the humblest 
reporter. 

Thenceforward he made New York his 
headquarters, occasionally visiting Wash- 
ington and also making trips of inspection 
to various industrial centers. Later on he 
visited Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and 
other cities of the Middle West. During his 
entire stay in the United States he ob- 
served his usual custom of rising at five 
in the morning, and working almost inces- 
santly until half -past seven in the evening. 
In this interval he met important business 
men and others, arranged big deals, worked 
on his system of reorganization, and gradu- 
ally brought order out of chaos. He retired 
promptly at ten o'clock, and was up again 
at five the next morning, ready for another 
day's work. His marvelous endurance as- 
tonished his American friends. 

During most of his stay in New York, 



362 NORTHCLIFFE 

Lord Northcliffe made his home at Bolton 
Priory, one of the largest houses in Pelham 
Bay Park, a well-known suburb, adjacent 
to Long Island Sound. Here he enter- 
tained visitors and found rest and quiet, the 
essential antidotes for his life of strenuous 
action. 

To give some idea of the colossal task 
which Lord NorthcUffe had undertaken it is 
necessary to explain how the British sys- 
tem of army supplies had been developed 
from the early days of the war. It is a 
story that reveals the magnitude of modern 
war operations, in which millions of men 
must be equipped, clothed, and fed. 

In 1914, when the great conflict began, 
the visible supphes of provisions and war 
materials in each of the Allied countries 
were insufficient for the purposes of a long 
war. The Allies were therefore compelled 
to enter neutral markets as buyers on an 
extensive scale. The United States, by rea- 
son of its immense resources, became the 
greatest market of all. 

Early in the war the British government 
enlarged existing departments and organ- 
ized still greater special departments of na- 



\ 




In Paris, 1917 

Lord Northcliffe starting out to attend a preliminary- 
meeting of the Allied War Council 

(S) Underiuocd & Underiv^od 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 363 

tional service to control the purchase and 
distribution of supplies. Some of the latter 
eventually surpassed even the greatest pri- 
vate businesses in the enormous extent of 
their dealings and expenditures. At that 
time the purchase of supplies in the United 
States was placed in charge of J. P. Mor- 
gan & Co., the New York banking firm^ 
this important business being ably directed 
by Edward R. Stettinius, a member of 
the jSrm and a well-known financial 
expert. 

In the case of certain other Alhed powers, 
notably Russia, the buying and awarding of 
contracts was at first managed somewhat 
loosely by special representatives who were 
sent to New York. Reahzing this, a num- 
ber of enterprising Americans were struck 
with the idea of getting options on war ma- 
terials of all kinds and making profitable 
deals with these officials. In some cases men 
without any capital obtained important op- 
tions on chemicals, munitions, rifles, lumber, 
foods, metals, and other commodities, and 
by acting as middlemen cleared large for- 
tunes. In the vernacular of Wall Street 
any enterprise that is launched with little or 



364 NORTHCLIFFE 

no capital is said to have been " started on a 
shoestring." These fortunate option dealers 
were consequently termed the " shoestring 
miUionaires." It was probably because of 
these loosely arranged options that much 
confusion arose in regard to supplies in the 
first years of the war. In some cases deliv- 
eries could not be made, and in several 
instances large quantities of defective equip- 
ment were rejected. 

At the beginning of 1915, when the New 
York Stock Exchange reopened after hav- 
ing been closed for some months because of 
the outbreak of war, the newspapers were 
pubhshing sensational reports of huge con- 
tracts awarded to American companies by 
the Allied governments, amounting to un- 
told milhons of dollars. Orders were pour- 
ing in for munitions, rifles, guns, motor 
boats, electrical equipment, locomotives, 
metals, foods, cotton, leather, and other 
commodities. Some of the enormous orders 
for copper seriously taxed the production of 
American mines. 

The stocks of companies which had re- 
ceived orders immediately began to advance, 
speculation became rampant, and thus the 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 365 

great war boom commenced in Wall Street. 
Advances of a hundred points or more were 
common. Bethlehem Steel (common), for 
example, rose from $50 to over $600 a share. 
Electric Boat, which had been quoted below 
ten dollars, went above $400 a share in 
a few weeks. Railroad-equipment shares, 
automobile shares, and many others scored 
sensational advances. Fortunes were made 
and lost daily by frenzied speculators in 
these stocks, which were popularly termed 
" the war brides." 

When the United States entered the war 
in April, 1917, the competition for war sup- 
plies was greatly increased, and it became 
more important than ever for the Allies to 
prevent any serious reduction in the quan- 
tities they were receiving. At that time 
the buying for the Allies — Great Britain 
excepted — had been coordinated and had be- 
come better managed. Some confusion had 
arisen, however, in regard to the British 
buying, which had been transferred from 
Morgan & Co. to less efficient hands. The 
numerous branch offices engaged in pur- 
chasing supplies were loosely connected. 
What the British mission was empowered 



366 NORTHCLIFFE 

to do was to reorganize the entire system 
and make it businesslike. 

An idea of the vast deahngs of the Amer- 
ican branch of the British supply system 
can be gathered from a brief mention of 
some of the things that are required for the 
British army of four million men. Since 
the beginning of the war the value of the 
purchases made by the Contracts Depart- 
ment in London has aggregated $3,750,- 
000,000. The gross outlay in 1917 was 
about $1,750,000,000, and this did not take 
in guns, munitions, aeroplanes, or mechani- 
cal transport. 

Since the war began the purchases have 
included 105,000,000 yards of cloth; 115,- 
000,000 yards of flannel; 400,000,000 
pounds of bacon; 500,000,000 rations of 
preserved meat; 26,000,000 cans of jam; 
167,000,000 pounds of cheese; 35,000,000 
knives, forks, and spoons; 35,000,000 pairs 
of boots; 40,000,000 horseshoes; and 25,- 
000,000 gas helmets. The British armies 
in France alone require every month 95,000 
tons of oats; 4,000,000 gallons of gasoline; 
20,000 tons of flour; 10,000,000 pounds of 
ham and jam; and 75,000 tons of hay. In 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 367 

the economies effected by the Contracts De- 
partment and the mobihzation of materials 
that has been achieved, the highest degree 
of business efficiency has been attained. It 
has done away with excessive war profits, 
the supplying of inferior materials, and 
other evils that formerly resulted from war 
contracts. 

At the Contracts Department in London 
over 70,000 manufacturers or dealers are 
listed. These firms are in every neutral or 
Allied country, but mainly in Great Britain, 
Canada, Australia, and the United States. 
They can produce anything that the British 
armies require. When the armies cannot 
get what they want from some outside firm, 
the government makes it on its own account. 
On the index, for instance, under the head 
of " Biscuits " or " Crackers " are the names 
of every available biscuit-producing estab- 
lishment in Great Britain and the United 
States. There is also a record of every con- 
tract that each firm has had with the British 
government, with the date and the price. 

Thousands of contracts of all kinds are 
made in the course of the year. Some sec- 
tions of the Contracts Department control 



368 NORTHCLIFFE 

such a vast amount of business that they 
have become separate and self-sufficient 
groups. The Royal Army Clothing De- 
partment, for example, spent about $250,- 
000,000 in 1917. After food, the next im- 
portant item is clothes. The contracts are 
awarded to regular manufacturers, and each 
manufacturer produces one definite article, 
such as a jacket, trousers, puttees, socks, 
shoes, or a cap. Inspection plays an im- 
portant part in this department. Every 
garment must conform to specifications or it 
is returned. 

Some idea of the scope and effectiveness 
of the inspection can be gained from the 
fact that in July, 1917, out of 3,000,000 
pieces of clothing inspected 117,000 were 
rejected. Out of 2,000,000 pairs of shoes 
sent in 68,000 were turned down. In one 
lot of 184,000 sheepskin coats — worn by 
motor-truck drivers — 27,000 were below 
standard. 

As a recent writer has remarked: "The 
business of war as represented by the sys- 
tem of supplies and transportation of the 
British army is nothing more or less than a 
colossal piece of merchandizing that has be- 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 369 

come a triumph of standardization. It 
expresses the genius of organization of a 
hundred United States Steel Corporations, 
Standard Oil Companies, and International 
Harvester Companies rolled into one." 

The American branch of this great sys- 
tem which Lord Northcliffe reorganized, 
had control of expenditures that were 
roughly estimated to range from fifty to 
eighty million dollars a week. One news- 
paper calculation placed the amoimt at 
$3,996,816,000 a year, or at the rate of 
$10,958,400 a day, $456,600 an hour, $7610 
a minute. In commenting on this enormous 
outlay Lord Northcliffe said: "I was sent 
to the United States not only because I 
have been here twenty times before, but 
because I am accustomed to directing large 
organizations, and it was felt by the British 
government that some one should supervise 
these huge disbursements which are passing 
into American pockets every week. Until 
my coming all the great purchasing depart- 
ments in the United States were without a 
head. Now the business is working smoothly 
and efficiently." 

Certain pro-German newspapers had mis- 



370 NORTHCLIFFE 

stated the facts about these expenditures, 
and had asserted that Great Britain had 
borrowed billions from the United States to 
spend in England. Lord Northcliffe dis- 
pelled this illusion by a prompt explanation: 
"The credit of $185,000,000 monthly ar- 
ranged by the United States government 
was intended to be used by Great Britain 
for the purchase of war supplies in the 
United States. This amount has been sup- 
plemented by our own expenditures. These 
expenditures mean a substantial sum every 
day for every man, woman, and child in 
the United States. I do not mention this in 
order to glorify war but merely to show that 
it indicates an appreciation of American 
products, which are invariably excellent." 

Operating under Lord Northcliffe's direc- 
tion were three principal British depart- 
ments, besides many representatives dis- 
patched to this country by the British Min- 
istry of Munitions, the War Department, 
and the Admiralty. The three departments 
— Production, Inspection, and Railway and 
Shipping — ^had their headquarters in New 
York. Of these the Production Depart- 
ment is probably the most important. It 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 371 

records all progress that is being made in the 
United States in the manufacture of big 
guns and high explosives, and in fact every- 
thing connected with munitions. It also 
arranges railway rulings for munitions. Its 
third important function is to check quan- 
tities and weights of various parts from 
contractors or factories right down to the 
ships. The work of the Inspection Depart- 
ment differs from that of the Production 
Department, being confined to inspecting 
the quality of the munitions supphed. The 
Railway and Shipping Department controls 
the movements of British shipping to and 
from this country and the forwarding of 
supplies from interior points in the United 
States to the coast. 

Few people in the United States have any 
idea of the extent of the British organiza- 
tion. To an interviewer with whom he dis- 
cussed this subject, Lord Northcliffe said: 
" Most people think of the British supply 
system in this country as consisting of a 
thousand men or so. Of course there is a 
small group at the head of it, but as a mat- 
ter of fact we have ten thousand men in the 
United States and Canada who are engaged 



372 NORTHCLIFFE 

directly or indirectly in purchasing, inspect- 
ing, checking, or arranging the transporta- 
tion of food, munitions, and all the rest of 
our supplies. At the present time I am 
responsible for all of them." 

The astonished interviewer added : " The 
picture was complete. Here was indeed the 
greatest spender in the world's history, re- 
sponsible for the disbursement of nearly four 
billion dollars yearly, so gigantic a task 
that there were needed ten thousand agents 
under him whose daily task it was to spend, 
spend, spend! " 

Lord Northcliife was asked whether bids 
had to be made in open market, and if so, 
whether it tended to drive prices up. He 
replied: "We formerly had to bid in the 
open market and had to pay eight and a 
half cents a pound for steel, for example. 
But that was before the Exports Adminis- 
trative Board was estabhshed under Judge 
Lovett, to pass on priority of demands. 
Now the United States and England buy 
side by side. We used to be represented in 
this country by Morgan & Co., but now all 
our buying of metals is done through the 
Lovett board, as it should be. But we have 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 373 

our own offices, of course — two or three big 
suites in New York, and others at a hundred 
other points." 

Lord Northchffe did not fail to grasp 
the humorous side of the war-contract busi- 
ness, and the devices employed by " men 
with schemes," who secured options with a 
view to becoming " shoestring millionaires." 
In talking of this he said: "Before the 
American Exports Board was established we 
had salesmen of every conceivable sort over- 
running our offices all day long. Hordes 
of them crowded into our anterooms. It 
seemed to me that most of them had nothing 
in stock but nerve. Why, they hadn't a 
factory to their names — just depended on 
getting an order from us, and then going 
out and finding a factory on the strength 
of that order." 

When Lord Northcliffe was asked in what 
direction most of England's money went in 
the United States, he dispelled the notion 
that fifty per cent of it was devoted to 
purchases of grain, meat, and other food- 
stuffs. He said that food was a big item, 
but not so large as fifty per cent or any- 
where near that proportion. Commenting 



374 NORTHCLIFFE 

on this statement, one editorial writer re- 
marked that investigation disclosed that of 
six billion dollars' worth of exports from 
the United States during twelve months 
ending in June, 1917, meat and dairy prod- 
ucts, breadstuffs, refined sugar, and glucose 
all put together did not make up much 
more than a tenth part of the whole. Still 
the amount of breadstuffs exported in that 
period, valued at $113,000,000, was double 
the amount exported in the year before the 
war began. 

It has been estimated that in 1917 Great 
Britain purchased $250,000,000 worth of 
copper in the United States and half a bil- 
lion dollars' worth of explosives. On this 
point Lord Northcliff e observed : "It is im- 
possible to say what commodities make up 
the bulk of our American purchases, because 
they vary from day to day. One week we 
are buying grain, the next something else — 
copper, for instance, tremendous amounts 
of copper. Iron, steel, brass, cotton and 
woolen goods, oil and meats, autos and 
trucks, and a myriad of other things are 
purchased. I am the responsible buyer, it is 
true, but one cannot go wrong with the 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 375 

hundreds of inspectors that we have over 
here, extremely keen young fellows all of 
them. This, however, is a young man's 
war." 

Throughout his life Lord Northcliffe has 
owed much of the success of his ventures 
to his shrewd selection of those whom he 
always speaks of as his " associates " or " col- 
leagues." When he became head of the 
British War Mission he secured the most 
competent men he could find to help him. 
His staffs were made up of experts in their 
various lines. He concentrated most of his 
efforts on perfecting the directing organiza- 
tion in New York. When he returned to 
England he was able to feel that the great 
business of purchasing and forwarding 
would run smoothly under the capable direc- 
tion of Sir Frederick Black and Sir An- 
drew Caird, who were left in charge. 
Valuable aid was also given by Sir Charles 
Gadon, vice-president of the Bank of 
Montreal, one of Canada's ablest business 
men, who was stationed in Washington, by 
the Honorable Robert Brand, partner of 
the famous Paris house of Lazard Brothers, 
and by Edward R. Stettinius, who had man- 



376 NORTHCLIFFE 

■ — -■ 

aged the buying for the British government 
so efficiently in the first years of the war. 

The nature of the transactions which have 
been conducted in the United States by the 
British War Mission cannot be specifically 
described, although they can be easily 
guessed at from the brief account that has 
been given. Few people, however, could 
form an accurate idea of the extent of the 
business done in New York alone or the 
number of people engaged in doing it. The 
Railway and Shipping Department, for in- 
stance, employs many hundreds of people, 
both in New York and at other points. In 
an article on the work of the mission a writer 
in the New York Evening World gave the 
following description of this department: 

" On the second floor of a vast office build- 
ing in lower Broadway there is a whole 
range of big rooms, taking up 10,000 feet 
of floor space, at a rental of $22,500 
(<£4500) a year. These rooms are filled 
with busy workers. They are fitted with the 
latest office appliances. You would say 
they were the offices of some great indus- 
trial corporation. 

" So they are. The British Empire is at 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 377 

present the greatest industrial corporation 
in the world, though the United States will 
soon rival and very likely pass it when the 
war industries of the country are in full 
swing. All those people in the second floor 
of that vast Broadway office building are 
working out the transportation of enormous 
shipments of all kinds of freight from Amer- 
ican ports to Great Britain. 

" The other branches of the mission — 
and there are a great many of them — are 
buying all that this shipping department can 
send across the ocean. Buying munitions of 
war, which means shells, guns, rifles, cart- 
ridges, explosives; buying grain, buying cot- 
ton, buying oil, buying mules and horses, 
buying hogs. 

" Britain has sent the best men she could 
find to the United States on this purchasing 
errand, because it is clear that at the pres- 
ent moment there is no more important 
work than this to be done. Upon the 
shipments from the United States depends 
in a large measure the issue of the war. 
Thus a short time ago there came a hurry 
call for oil that was needed urgently in the 
United Kingdom for war purposes. At 



378 NORTHCLIFFE 

once the mission headquarters got busy. The 
most 'prominent oil men in the country were 
asked for their assistance, which they gave 
generously, and with the most valuable ef- 
fect. 'We swam in oil,' Lord Northcliffe 
said humorously, ' we breathed oil. The 
whole place seemed to reek of it.' The re- 
sult was a steady shipment of oil across the 
Atlantic." 

Such was the gigantic work of reorganiza- 
tion that Lord Northcliffe undertook in 
June, 1917, and successfully completed by 
December, when he returned to England. 
So pronounced was his success that be- 
fore his return he received a message of 
congratulation from the British War Coun- 
cil, expressing the warmest appreciation of 
his services. That the mission succeeded so 
well was entirely due to his clear-headed 
business abihty. In less than six months 
he had dispelled confusion, established an 
efficient system, introduced economies, and 
speeded up the purchasing and forwarding 
of supplies. When he left New York the 
whole machinery of organization was run- 
ning with the ease of a perfect machine. 

After his return to London, Lord North- 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 379 

cliffe had an audience with King George 
at Buckingham Palace, when he received 
His Majesty's thanks, and was also re- 
quested to thank the associate members of 
the British mission for their good work, in 
which they had been so s^ff^ctively assisted 
by their American colleagues. In conversa- 
tion with Lord Northcliffe at that time the 
king spoke in high terms of the American 
mission to the Allies and of Colonel House, 
whom he had known for some years. The 
mission, he said, displayed the energy and 
alertness indicative of American character 
and purpose. Lord Northcliffe was sur- 
prised at the king's intimate knowledge of 
the possibilities of aircraft production in the 
United States, his interest in the Liberty 
Motor, his knowledge of the men who had 
evolved it, and the manner in which it was 
produced. 

As a further recognition of his services 
Lord Northcliffe was shortly afterwards 
honored with the higher title of viscount. 
His energies were not allowed to rest, for 
in less than a month he organized a London 
headquarters for the British War Mission, 
establishing them at Crewe House, one of 



380 NORTHCLIFFE 



the great London mansions, where a large 
staff was soon busily managing the British 
end of the great system of purchasing and 
forwarding carried on in the United States. 
Crewe House was at once prepared for the 
entertainment of representatives of the 
United States, France, and other Allied na- 
tions visiting England on business. The 
banquet hall and ballroom were renovated, 
and paintings to adorn the walls were 
brought from the National Gallery. 

Apart from his arduous work in connec- 
tion with the British War Mission, Lord 
Northcliffe found time in the United States 
to help the Allied cause by presenting the 
truth about the war in articles that he con- 
tributed to American newspapers and maga- 
zines. Although pressure of business pre- 
vented him from accepting many invitations 
to address business, pohtical, and social or- 
ganizations which poured in during his stay 
in America, he managed to speak on sev- 
eral important occasions in New York, Chi- 
cago, and elsewhere. 

It is doubtful if any other British public 
man could have upheld the cause of the Allies 
so successfully as Lord Northcliffe. It is 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 381 

certain that none could have done it with 
more vigor, could have made a better impres- 
sion upon the government and people of the 
United States, and implanted more forcibly 
the conviction of Britain's resolute will to 
conquer, of her faith in her resources and 
her Allies, of her steady confidence that vic- 
tory can in time be won. 

It was a difficult task for Lord North- 
cliffe, because he followed in the wake of the 
Right Honorable Arthur James Balfour, 
M.P., who had visited the United States in 
April, at the head of a special mission to 
emphasize the aims and ideals of the British 
people in conducting the war. Mr. Bal- 
four's engaging manners won him immediate 
popularity. His deftly phrased speeches 
were read with admiration. But Mr. Bal- 
four to the American people was an exotic. 
They were curious about him as one of the 
older statesmen of England. He was in 
appearance and speech what one of the 
newspapers, without offensive or even hu- 
morous intention, called " an interesting 
survival." 

Lord Northcliffe, however, was fortunate 
in representing a completely different type 



382 NORTHCLIFFE 

of Briton. It was desirable from the British 
point of view to impress upon the American 
people that they had not come to the rescue 
of an effete civilization. It was necessary to 
show them that their allies, the British, as a 
race are no less virile and resourceful than 
they are themselves. Among Americans an 
idea had widely prevailed that England had 
become " played out " and that the British 
people were timid and unenterprising haters 
of innovation. That idea has diminished 
since the war began. Nothing could have 
done more to dispel it entirely than the 
vigorous work of Lord Northcliffe in the 
United States. 

After his return to England Lord North- 
cliffe used all the influence of his newspapers 
in supporting the plan for an Allied War 
Council to meet at Versailles, and to bring 
about the concentration of effort which was 
needed to win the war. Each country had 
been fighting on its own initiative, and it was 
difficult to get satisfactory results, whereas 
the Central Powers had been united. 

When this plan was recommended by 
President Wilson, an interview was given 
out by Lord Northcliffe, in which he said: 



THE BRITISH WAR MISSION 383 

• 

" Not one Englishman in a hundred under- 
stands the position and power of the Presi- 
dent of the United States. By most Eng- 
lishmen he is regarded as an American 
prime minister. Our prime minister, of 
course, is removable by a single adverse 
majority vote in the House of Commons. 
It is not understood over here that the 
President cannot be removed from office ex- 
cept in extremely rare circumstances, that 
he has more power than a constitutional 
monarch, and has supreme authority over 
the army and navy. This explains why 
President Wilson's message to Colonel 
House in regard to the AlHed War Coun- 
cil was published so inconspicuously by most 
English newspapers." 

After the council had been established 
Lord Northcliffe said: " It is no secret that 
at the suggestion of Secretary McAdoo, M. 
Andre Tardieu and I worked on this plan 
for months in the United States. It ought 
to have been put in hand long ago. If 
action had been taken at the time desired 
by Mr. McAdoo, the Italian disaster in 
December, 1917, might have been averted. 
Before the cooperative principle went into 



384 NORTHCLIFFE 

effect, the war was conducted in a manner 
that would have ruined even the United 
States Steel Corporation in less than two 
weeks." 

In February, 1918, Lord Northcliffe ac- 
cepted the position of Director of Propa- 
ganda in Enemy Countries, while continuing 
his work on the British War Mission. He 
had agreed to use his intimate knowledge of 
enemy countries to enable reports of im- 
portant speeches and statements of war aims 
to reach the peoples of the Central Powers 
and their allies, and thus disseminate the 
truth in communities where it had been per- 
sistently suppressed. 



XIII 
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 

Since the war began, it has been re- 
marked, the people of the United States 
and Great Britain have discovered that they 
are in closer community of essential thought 
and purpose than they had previously sus- 
pected. There has been a striking simi- 
larity in the methods which both nations 
have adopted in dealing with the intricate 
problems of war time. Furthermore, allow- 
ing for their greater distance from the fir- 
ing line, Americans have thought about 
the great issues of the war almost exactly 
as the British have thought about them. 

The American people have followed the 
phases of the war in Great Britain, the 
blunderings, the tenacity, the onset of con- 
scription in an essentially non-military com- 
munity, with the complete understanding of 
a nation similarly circumstanced, differing 
only by scale and distance. They have now 

385 



386 NORTHCLIFFE 

been through something of the sort them- 
selves. It had not before occurred to many 
Americans how parallel the two countries 
are. They begin now to have an inkling of 
how much closer the resemblance may pres- 
ently become. 

More than any other British public man, 
Lord Northcliffe has a profound under- 
standing of this similarity in national aims 
and methods. Through his wide knowledge 
of American affairs he has been enabled to 
view the important questions of the war 
from what may be termed an Anglo- 
American standpoint, and this has been evi- 
dent in much that he has written in the last 
three years. 

During his visit to the United States as 
head of the British War Mission, Lord 
Northcliffe, as already mentioned, contrib- 
uted some highly interesting articles to 
newspapers and magazines, in which he dis- 
cussed a variety of topics incident to the 
war. He also addressed a number of im- 
portant gatherings. One of his most notable 
speeches was delivered at the British re- 
cruiting celebration held at Madison Square 
Garden, New York, where an audience of 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 387 

14,000 greeted him with enthusiastic ap- 
plause. Another interesting occasion on 
which he spoke was in Kansas City, where 
he addressed a convention of 2000 news- 
paper editors of the Middle West. 

The introductions at the meetings at which 
Lord Northcliffe appeared led his hearers 
to expect a great deal from his speeches. 
They were not disappointed, for he made 
an instant impression of forcefulness and 
sincerity. As he had none of the wiles 
of the professional orator, there was nothing 
flamboyant in his phrases. He did not at- 
tempt to work up effective points with the 
aim of inviting applause. But there was 
meat in every one of his sentences. He in- 
variably paid his audiences the compliment 
of assuming that they did not want mere 
rhetoric. Therefore he did not speak as 
one who talked for the sake of talking. 

In most of his speeches what he had to 
say was not very palatable. He could have 
won cheap and easy applause by telling 
people what they would have liked to hear 
— that the war was almost won, that the 
submarine menace had failed, and that the 
task of the United States would not be diffl- 



388 NORTHCLIFFE 

cult. Instead of that, he told his audiences 
what he believed to be the truth about the 
war, sending them away thoughtful, but 
braced to the necessity for effort and sacri- 
fice. His criticism was constructive, — 
" Build ships, save food, pull yourselves 
together for a long war." He treated the 
war as a grave calamity affecting every- 
body, a calamity which everybody could do 
something to combat if they were only told 
what that something might be. 

Lord Northcliffe discussed the war as it 
had never been discussed by politicians in 
England. At all points his wisdom of talk- 
ing plainly and frankly was entirely justi- 
fied by the manner in which his speeches 
were received. One of the newspaper edi- 
tors after the Kansas City gathering began 
his description of it by saying that the talk 
they had heard had taught them a great 
deal which they did not know before. He 
also said that Lord Northcliffe had not only 
made every one feel sure that he knew what 
he was talking about, but that he meant 
every word that he said. It was his obvious 
sincerity, his evident desire not to make a 
showy effect, but to thresh the wheat of 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 389 



reality from the chaff of illusion, which 
won his audiences over as soon as he began 
to speak and which held their attention. 

The plain-spoken utterances of Lord 
Northchff e, typical of his character as an 
observer and thinker, did much toward 
counteracting the mischievous work of Ger- 
man propagandists. He lost no opportu- 
nity to state the case of the Allies, and to 
explain why they had united against the 
common foe of democracy. His views on 
the war in its relation to the United States 
showed plainly that he had a thorough 
understanding of our national ideals and 
purposes. In many ways his public utter- 
ances constituted a stirring message to 
America, and one that is particularly inter- 
esting at the present time. For that rea- 
son the following resume of some of the 
things that he said in his articles and 
speeches forms an appropriate addition to 
his biography. 

In discussing the striking resemblance be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain 
before and since the war began. Lord North- 
chffe, in one of his addresses, pointed out 
that both countries had been over wealthy 



390 NORTHCLIFFE 

and equally unprepared for defense against 
the attack of a powerful enemy. " If Eng- 
land," he said, " had possessed only a mild 
form of military insurance there would have 
been no war. Like yourselves, however, 
we were eternally talking about money, 
business, or territorial expansion. The 
United States has been like an over-rich 
corporation and has invited trouble from 
hungry competitors. We were in precisely 
the same position. It is a curious fact, 
moreover, that the richer people become the 
more they preach peace. It pleases them 
and their pockets. We were all purse and 
no fist. 

" The Germans knew of our weak points, 
and they suddenly fell upon us. Fortu- 
nately for ourselves, a certain number among 
us had insisted upon having a modern navy, 
although some of our richest people, as well 
as those most politically strong, advocated 
a reduction of the fleet. Great Britain, 
however, had only a small army and was 
unprepared for aerial warfare. In the early 
days of the war if the Germans, instead of 
fooling with Zeppelin gas-bags, had been 
enterprising enough to land fifty thousand 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 391 

troops from aeroplanes in England, and 
these invaders had intrenched themselves, 
we should have had considerable difficulty 
in ejecting them. If we had only spent 
as much in the right kind of preparedness 
each year as we are now spending in two 
weeks of the war (our daily expenditure is 
over $30,000,000) this war could not have 
happened." 

As to Germany's reasons for beginning 
the war. Lord Northcliffe expressed the 
opinion that they were not commercial but 
dynastic. " No doubt there were commer- 
cial interests in Germany that were foolish 
enough to believe they would be benefited. 
But the aim of Prussian Junkerdom was to 
establish a world domination. Commerce 
was to lend its aid, but commerce was to be 
a means towards the attainment of the 
war party's object and not an end in itself. 
So much is certain. Equally certain it is 
that commercial ambitions had nothing to do 
with Austria-Hungary's reasons for fighting, 
nor for those of Turkey or Bulgaria. They 
joined with Germany because Germany al- 
ternately threatened and cajoled their rulers. 

" The German people have been pur- 



392 NORTHCLIFFE 

posely deluded into the belief that they are 
defending themselves against foes who are 
set upon crushing them out of existence, a 
design which nobody but a lunatic would 
conceive or imagine possible of execution. 
Austria fancies that she went to war to de- 
fend herself against Russia, the truth being 
that she was used as a cat's-paw by the 
HohenzoUern gang." * 

The Kaiser's grandiose scheme for an 
empire of Middle Europe that would 
stretch from Antwerp to Bagdad, dominate 
the world, smash the Monroe Doctrine, ab- 
sorb South America, and levy tribute upon 
the United States has been revealed since 
the war began. In referring to this menace, 
Lord Northcliife remarked: "So you know 
what Germany was after. She envied the 
people with the goods and had a great de- 
sire to control countries that possess coal, 
iron, and other valuable resources. There 
is no sentiment about German warfare. We 
are very wealthy in Britain and so are you 
in the United States. Germany did not 
want a little country like Belgium. She was 
after something bigger." 

* Current Opinion. 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 393 

In reviewing the position of the Allies, 
Lord Northcliffe said: " Here, in the United 
States, I am told, and I have discovered 
proof for myself, there are people who have 
heen deluded by German and pro-German 
propagandists into supposing that this is a 
* commercial war,' although it is not easy to 
make out exactly what they mean by that 
expression. As far as I can learn, they sup- 
pose that the combatants are each seeking 
to obtain control of the world's markets. 
They even suggest that it was a motive of 
this kind that brought the United States in. 
The argument runs thus: The big American 
interests were so heavily committed by their 
dealings with the Allies that they forced the 
government of the United States to inter- 
vene in order that they might not lose their 
money. It will be useful to examine this 
delusion and to knock away the props on 
which it stands. 

" No one in England was ever insane 
enough to propose that Britain should try 
to meet German competition by fighting 
Germany. The proposal had been made 
that Britain should abandon her system of 
free trade under which Germans were able 



394 NORTHCLIFFE 

to do business as freely as Britons in any 
British dominion or dependency. But that 
proposal was not adopted. What would 
have been the good of Britain going to war 
with Germany in order to secure markets? 
As soon as she had secured them they would 
have been open to German as freely as to 
British trade. The German Vice-Chancel- 
lor. Dr. Helfferich, has asserted that Great 
Britain's object was ' the economic oppres- 
sion of Germany.' How could Britain 
oppress any nation economically as long as 
she allowed the traders of all nations to 
compete with her own traders upon equal 
terms ? 

" Further, if Britain had planned a com- 
mercial war, is it likely that she would have 
been caught unprepared? How unprepared 
she was all the world knows. Britain had 
no motive for taking up arms beyond the 
saving of Belgium and the assertion of the 
right of all peoples to develop freely and 
securely as they desire, except the motive 
which led her to fight Philip of Spain and 
the Spanish Armada in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, and that which made her the leader of 
the nations in the struggle against the at- 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 395 

tempt of Napoleon to become the master 
of Europe in the early eighteen hundreds. 
She saw that she must fight for her life, for 
the security of her communications, which 
are the arteries carrying her life blood. 
' The war,' Sir Robert Borden said in New 
York last year, ' has taught us two things. 
First, that the liberty, the security, and the 
free existence of the British Empire arc de- 
pendent upon the safety of the ocean path- 
ways, whether in peace or war; next, that 
sea power is the most powerful instrument 
by which world domination can be effectually 
crushed.' 

" The peoples of the British Empire did 
not want war. They had nothing to gain 
from war. They were threatened. They 
were attacked. Whether Prussia had in- 
vaded Belgium or not, Britain would have 
been obliged to fight in self-defense. It was 
not Brussels that the Germans wanted when 
* for strategic reasons ' they marched their 
troops across the Belgian frontier which they 
had signed a solemn treaty to respect. They 
wanted Antwerp, which Napoleon called, 
with clear-sighted understanding, ' a pistol 
pointed at the head of England.' They 



396 NORTHCLIFFE 

wanted an outlet for their ocean-going sub- 
marines. They wanted Calais." 

In spite of governmental watchfulness, 
the evil effects of German propaganda have 
been experienced in England and France. 
This possibly explains why certain miscon- 
ceptions regarding the causes of the war still 
exist in both countries. " A number of 
English people still fancy," said Lord North- 
cliffe, " that Britain could have kept out of 
the conflict if Belgium had not been in- 
vaded. These people cannot understand 
that Prussia's object in forcing war upon 
France and Russia was to clear them out 
of the way and be able to attack England 
and, in course of time, the United States, 
with a good prospect of success, later on. I 
have even heard French people speak as if 
France took up arms to regain Alsace and 
Lorraine, whereas we know that France 
would never have brought upon the world 
the frightful calamity of war for selfish 
aims." 

As to the motive which impelled Russia 
to enter the war, that country, as Lord 
Northcliffe explained, could not be accused 
of having had commercial ambitions. Al- 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 397 

most all the commerce that Russia possessed 
had been in German hands for many years. 
" Russia," said Lord Northcliffe, " was 
goaded into mobilizing her armies by the 
attempt of Prussia and Austria to establish 
German influence in the Balkans: to insult 
and injure Russia by showing that she could 
not save her Slav brethren, the Serbs, from 
being crushed out of existence as a free 
nation. It would be just as stupid to sug- 
gest that France made war for commercial 
aggrandizement. France stood by her ally, 
Russia, as she had bound herself to do by 
a ' scrap of paper.' France is an honor- 
able country. Her people keep their en- 
gagements. If France now asks for the 
return of Alsace and Lorraine, it is because 
she desires a guarantee against further 
Prussian aggression and because the popula- 
tions are in favor of French instead of Ger- 
man rule." 

In summing up the reasons which com- 
pelled the United States to enter the war, 
Lord Northcliffe referred to the fact that 
German scientists had, for many years, per- 
sistently spread the idea that Germans were 
supermen, a chosen race, and that it was 



398 NORTHCLIFFE 

necessary for the progress of humanity that 
they should impose their will upon the rest 
of the world. " German intelligence," he 
remarked, " was devoted to this object, and 
no scruple about honor or pity was to be 
allowed to stand in the way. Every means 
to victory was to be used, without caring how 
brutal and devilish it might be. *We are,' 
it was declared, ' the most advanced, most 
efficient nation; therefore we are meant to 
crush out the less advanced. That is our 
idea of progress.' 

" Such an idea, however, the United 
States could not accept or tolerate. This 
country refused to accept Kaiser Wilhelm's 
insulting boast to Ambassador Gerard in 
Berhn: ' There is no international law now.' 
He meant that Germany had done away 
with it. She claimed to have put her will 
in place of law. 

" If a ruffian stood in the street and de- 
clared : ' There is no law now. I have abol- 
ished it. I will kill any one who comes this 
way without groveling to me for permis- 
sion,' would American citizens say: * Oh, 
very well, we must do as you think fit ' ? 
No, American citizens would very quickly 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 399 

have that ruffian out of the way, either 
locked up or buried with holes through him. 
That, I think, would be the attitude of 
Americans as individuals, and the attitude 
of the nation is the same towards the ruf- 
fianly attempt of the Hohenzollern party to 
substitute their will for the law of nations 
and to ' bulldoze ' the United States. 

" Prussia, in the course of her savage and 
criminal rage, injured the United States, 
and added insult to injury by telling Amer- 
ican citizens that if they did not want to be 
injured further they must keep out of the 
way, and only move about, by kind permis- 
sion of the Kaiser, where Germany was 
pleased to let them go. It was because of 
this that the United States declared war 
upon the Central Empires. If this country 
had meant to take up arms in defense of 
British or French interests, or in the inter- 
ests of Belgium, or in order to spread 
democracy, it would not have waited until 
April, 1917. If its aims had been conmier- 
cial, it would have been in the war long ago. 
The motive which brought the United States 
in was not sympathy with any other nation, 
was not desire for gain, was not an abstract 



400 NORTHCLIFFE 

fondness for democratic as opposed to auto- 
cratic government; it was self-interest, self- 
preservation, self-respect. The American 
people are not fighting to make the world 
safe for democracy, but to make the world 
safe for themselves. 

" For this cause American armies are be- 
ing sent to France. That is where the 
enemy of the world's peace must be brought 
to book. Mayor Thompson of Chicago is 
reported as having said, ' I do not believe in 
sending our youths to the trenches of Eu- 
rope instead of providing an adequate army 
to prevent home invasion.' The war can be 
ended, the world can be made safe for us 
all to live in, only by fighting the Germans 
where they are. History shows that all na- 
tions which have waited to be attacked have 
suflFered in consequence. Ask any French- 
man whether he thinks it an advantage to 
France that the war is raging on French 
soil. There could be only one answer to 
such a foolish question. The American 
army must fight the Germans in Europe 
in order to prevent them from bringing the 
war to the United States. 

" The task which the United States has 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 401 

taken up in consequence of the Prussian at- 
tack upon its sovereign rights is the task of 
throwing into the scale the last weight which 
will turn it against Germany. That task 
may be summed up in the three F's — Feed, 
Finance, Finish. When there are two mil- 
lion American troops, which put Right be- 
fore Might, facing the common foe of all 
nations, the Finish of the war will be at 
hand. The world looks to American initia- 
tive, enterprise, and innate love of freedom 
to put an end, let us hope for all time, to 
an attempt to tyrannize, unprecedented in 
history." 

In Lord Northcliffe's opinion it has been 
difficult to arouse the American public to 
the gravity of the war because the fighting 
line is so far away. Certain hardships, re- 
sulting from war conditions, have been ex- 
perienced in the United States, but no actual 
suffering. In discussing this subject Lord 
Northcliff e said : " People in America read 
about the wonderful victories of the Allies 
and the sinking of hundreds of German sub- 
marines; they are told that Germany is on 
the point of starvation. Most of these 
stories are untrue, but they believe all of 



402 NORTHCLIFFE 

them. It is impossible for the American 
people to realize what war actually is, be- 
cause they are so far away from it. They 
have not seen wounded soldiers coming back, 
and they have not had their homes destroyed 
by aeroplanes. They cannot understand such 
things until they are brought home to them." 

The same is undoubtedly true of the re- 
ports of German atrocities, which lose much 
of their effect in traveling three thousand 
miles. Being far removed from the war 
zone, and having no visible evidence of the 
horrors of war as waged by the Germans, — 
the massacres of women and children, the 
maiming and murdering of male civilians, 
the enslavement of whole populations of 
non-combatants, the systematic starvation of 
prisoners, the ravaging of towns and coun- 
tries, — it is difficult for the great mass of the 
American people to grasp the full signifi- 
cance of these terrible happenings. As an 
observer Lord Northcliife was much im- 
pressed by this fact. 

The people of the United States, as a 
well-known American war correspondent has 
remarked, do not seem to understand the 
difference between the treacherous, brutal- 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 403 

ized German soldier of reality and the in- 
offensive German of popular imagination. 
" The French and English," says this writer, 
" are not fighting the Hohenzollerns. They 
are fighting the Germans. They have been 
at it a long time, and they ought to know 
them. When will Americans begin to be- 
lieve what those who have been fighting the 
Germans over three years tell them? How 
long will they continue to believe that the 
German is not what he is, but what they 
think he ought to be? That is to say, what 
he used to be." 

Having a thorough knowledge of the in- 
sidious methods of German propaganda. 
Lord Northcliffe warned Americans to be 
on guard against this treacherous and dan- 
gerous force which has been so persistently 
employed. As is well known, since the pres- 
ent atrocious conflict was forced upon the 
world by the Prussianized Germans they 
have won more by deceit than by arms. The 
treachery, bribing, propaganda, and whole- 
sale corruption which led to the collapse of 
Russia have been practiced, on a less gigan- 
tic scale, in other countries. Prior to April, 
1917, the pro-German movements, with their 



404 NORTHCLIFFE 

misrepresentations and distortion of facts, 
which were carried on in the United States 
constituted a national menace. 

This method of warfare is not of recent 
origin, however. As a matter of fact, many- 
years before the war ahnost every country 
had been gathered into the meshes of the 
German secret service. In some countries 
newspapers were subsidized to create pro- 
German feehng, revolutionary societies 
were supported, strikes were fomented, and 
criminals of the lowest type were enlisted to 
commit murder and arson whenever it be- 
came necessary for the Kaiser's government 
to strike a blow. The work of spies and 
propagandists in the United States proved 
conclusively that Germany had for years 
been preparing for the possibility of war 
with this country. As investigations dis- 
closed, the German ambassador at Wash- 
ington had been supplied with large funds 
for the payment of secret agents commis- 
sioned to blow up ships and munition plants. 
In addition, support was given to opposers 
of conscription and to emissaries of the I. 
W. W., engaged in precipitating strikes in 
mines and factories. President Wilson is on 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 405 

record to the effect that scores of American 
citizens, while the United States was at 
peace with Germany, were killed by mur- 
derers in the employ of the German gov- 
ernment. 

In one of his speeches Lord Northcliffe 
asserted that before the outbreak of the 
war German intrigue had been at work in 
England. " Many Germans," he said, 
"were then holding high positions in the 
United Kingdom, such as mayors of towns, 
and we were amazed to discover that they 
had been working against us for years. 
They had provided Berlin with valuable in- 
formation. Like yourselves, however, we 
were an unsuspicious people, and it took us 
some time to realize what these treacherous 
enemies were doing. Nor could we conceive 
that the German ambassador, whom we sup- 
posed to be a high-minded, honorable gen- 
tleman, would busy himself with schemes of 
revolution, arrange for the burning of our 
munition factories, and concoct other plots, 
when he should have been trying to 
straighten out affairs between our country 
and his own." 

That it is difficult to cope with the in- 



406 NORTHCLIFFE 

tricate German spy system Lord Northcliffe 
frankly admits. He believes that a large 
amount of information has been sent to 
Germany in apparently innocent cable mes- 
sages addressed to business houses in neu- 
tral countries. Such messages can give news 
of departing transports and other ships in 
order that they may be attacked by sub- 
marines. " Outgoing cables," he says, 
" should be closely watched. It was only 
by checking back cables to neutral coun- 
tries that we succeeded in catching some of 
our spies. 

" I don't know whether the United States 
government has an alert censorship on let- 
ters and cable messages to Spain, but I 
venture to think that if this is not the case 
and a censorship is installed, a large amount 
of secret information might be detected. I 
would also point out that newspaper illus- 
trations may easily convey dangerous in- 
formation. The Germans have a system of 
enlarging newspaper pictures to see if they 
can get any useful ideas from them. For 
that reason no picture of any new tank, 
aeroplane, or other war machine should be 
published." 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 407 



Lord Northcliffe has been surprised by 
the quickness with which the Germans ascer- 
tain what is going on in opposing countries. 
For instance, they flood Spain and other 
neutral nations with false reports that im- 
mediately minimize any statements made by 
the Allies, and contradict such statements 
with a celerity that is amazing. He asked 
Commendatore Marconi if it were possible 
that the Germans might have a wireless 
plant concealed somewhere in England. 
The Italian inventor repUed that it would 
be quite possible, and that he himself would 
be able to erect a wireless plant in Eng- 
land that the authorities would have great 
trouble in discovering. 

Like other far-seeing public men, Lord 
Northcliffe has always opposed an incon- 
clusive peace, realizing that the German 
people, who have given strong support to 
the Kaiser's iniquitous war policy, cannot be 
induced to change their views until they are 
effectually defeated. It would, moreover, 
be impossible to trust a government that 
holds no word sacred, and that has been con- 
stantly busy concocting lies, fomenting con- 



408 NORTHCLIFFE 

spiracies, and poisoning the thought of the 
world. 

In answer to the question, " How long 
will the war last?" Lord Northcliffe re- 
plied: "I see no reason to expect a short 
war. Of course, we could have peace to- 
morrow, but it would be a short peace, and 
would mean a more terrible war than we 
are having, for you can rest assured that the 
Germans would not make the mistake they 
made in this instance of having so many na- 
tions against them. As a great Scandi- 
navian said: 'Beat Germany this time, for 
if you do not she will beat you.' We are 
fighting for the permanent peace of the 
world and freedom for each nation. Presi- 
dent Wilson is the inspired prophet of this 
dispensation." 

In spite of what has been said to the con- 
trary. Lord Northcliffe does not believe that 
any army raised and trained in a time of 
emergency can at once compete on equal 
terms with troops that have been equipped, 
organized, and drilled in the course of years. 
For that reason he has never underrated 
German mihtary strength. " The Ger- 
mans," he says, "have been educated for 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 409 

war and trained in military tactics for more 
than a generation; they have given their 
lives to this cause. There is nothing wrong 
about their war machine. Therefore, to sup- 
pose that people who are untrained and un- 
prepared for war can conquer the Germans 
in a short time is the height of folly." 

In a speech before the House of Com- 
mons Sir Auckland Geddes, who is at the 
head of the department of national service, 
declared that armies in these days are some- 
thing more than men in the field. An army, 
as he explained, is now a body of experts 
handling the most wonderful machines, 
guns, mortars, aeroplanes, telephones, elec- 
tric lights, gas, and a myriad of other things. 
AU this equipment must be transported to 
the front, with hundreds of tons of shells, 
bombs, and high explosives. There is also a 
vast area of rearwards services, extending 
from the mines through the factories along 
the lines of conmiunication right to the hands 
of the men who use the weapons. 

Lord Northcliffe repeatedly emphasized 
this fact in his articles and speeches. In 
addressing the Western editors he pointed 
out that war to-day is entirely different 



410 NORTHCLIFFE 

from what it was in the past. " Formerly 
it was showy, dramatic, emotional; now it 
is none of these things. The present war 
is a very different proceeding from old-time 
warfare, when men enlisted, shouldered their 
rifles, and marched to battle. In this war 
the farmer, the miller, the butcher, and the 
men in the munition factory are just as im- 
portant as the soldier. War, in fact, has 
become in part a vast business enterprise. 
In preparing a new army to fight the 
Germans it is just as if a party of amateur 
journalists should go to a big American city 
with a few presses to run a newspaper in 
competition with an old established daily. 
You are amateurs in the game of war, more 
so than we are, because we have had three 
years of practice. We began this war with 
almost no army at all. Great Britain under- 
estimated the job at the beginning and went 
to war unprepared, as the United States has 
done. England, however, paid dearly for 
the mistake." 

As the result of Britain's experience. Lord 
Northcliffe is convinced that conscription is 
the only democratic method of raising an 
effective army. " The draft system," he 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 411 

says, " is the only one for a democratic 
nation. We thought the only democratic 
system was to take those who by their en- 
thusiasm volunteered and went to war, but 
we soon discovered that was a mistake. We 
found that while the patriot went to war, 
the unpatriotic man stayed behind and stole 
the patriot's living. We had an absurd 
slogan, * One volunteer is worth three 
pressed men.' It sounded well, but it was 
not true. When we adopted the draft we 
found that the drafted men fought just as 
well as the volunteers. There is the same 
spirit of brotherhood among soldiers. The 
drafted men are received in the same spirit 
as those who enlisted of their own free will." 

By means of conscription, as Lord North- 
cliff e pointed out, the United States will 
eventually have a formidable army, and al- 
though the Kaiser sneered at "the con- 
temptible British army," and has scoffed at 
the idea of American participation in the 
war, he will find that, when the decisive 
struggle comes, the armies of democracy are 
more than a match for the German machine. 

In explaining why he had been impelled 
to speak frankly when addressing American 



412 NORTHCLIFFE 

audiences in regard to the war, Lord North- 
cliff e said: "I have spoken in this way be- 
cause I have been talking to friends. We 
are banded together by a feeling of brother- 
hood, and we should plan and work together 
in order to win this war. No one has a 
better or clearer idea of the infinitely diffi- 
cult task before us than I have. I know, 
moreover, how difficult it is to deal with 
prosperous people — ^they are so optimistic. 
At the beginning of the war it was much 
the same in England. 

" The British race is like the American, 
anti-mihtaristic. It is even anti-authority. 
It is therefore the antipode of the German, 
whose government embodies authority more 
completely than any other in the world. 
The British idea is solid opposition to the 
principle of unrestricted authority. The 
American Revolution, like Magna Charta, 
forms a milestone in its development. I 
am impressed by this fact as I travel in the 
United States. I find that your country 
is very similar to our country, that your 
people are very similar to our own people. 
Here the people rule, and it is the same in 
Britain. You hated an army, and so did 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 413 

we. Being opposed to war, we did not have 
an army, and it was the same in your case. 
I hope and pray, however, that we shall 
never have another war, and I believe that if 
we keep together when the soldiers come 
back and conditions are adjusted, we shall 
have a continued peace; for the people will 
see to it that nothing like this shall happen 
again as long as they live." 

One of the greatest statesmen in England 
has declared that the destiny of the world 
depends to a great extent upon how the 
United States and Great Britain act toward 
each other when the war is over. They can 
be keen trade rivals and compete to the 
limit, ais they probably will. But between 
the two great English-speaking peoples, he 
says, there should be coordination and under- 
standing. It should be their duty to poUce 
the world and make it free not only for 
democracy but for trade. Lord Northcliffe 
takes the same view. " As the result of the 
war," he says, " the United States and Great 
Britain have been brought very close to- 
gether. If we two peoples keep together we 
can, I am sure, see that there is never an- 
other war." 



414 NORTHCLIFFE 

That there is a silver lining to the war 
cloud Lord Northcliffe has perceived. In 
an impressive address, in which he dealt with 
this aspect of the war, he said: "After all 
the harm that Germany has done to the 
world by forcing it into this war, we may 
gain a grain of comfort if we glance at the 
other side of the account. The war has 
brought the AUied nations together as never 
before; mistrust and animosities have been 
swept away and forgotten, and we stand 
together as a band of brothers and 
sisters. 

" Unintentionally, Germany has taught us 
a higher meaning of duty, of patriotism, and 
the sacrifices they entail. Having to face 
peril, suffering, death itself, we have reacted 
from superficial things, feelings, thoughts 
even, and live our Uves among the realities, 
sterner, harsher, more primitive perhaps, but 
infinitely more important in the right con- 
duct of existence. We are living in a great 
age. Romance has been restored to us. 
Men die 'for Belgium,' 'for Italy,' 'for 
France,' ' for England,' ' for America,' lit- 
erally day by day, these heroes, these pala- 
dins of ours. May we not believe that this 



A MESSAGE TO AMERICA 415 

kinship of the battle line, where men of 
widely different races have stood shoulder 
to shoulder in the cause of liberty, is des- 
tined to endure? " 



XIV 
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 

In judging a man, it has been said, the 
only right course is to ask: "What effect 
has his life, taken as a whole, had on the 
world? " To pick out samples here and 
there and hold them up does not show us the 
man any more than a block of stone would 
give an idea of the Capitol at Washington. 
So in viewing the career of Viscount North- 
cliffe, from his youthful days when he 
started his first paper, to the man as we be- 
hold him now, the net results must be con- 
sidered. If that be done, we are compelled 
to acknowledge his genius, originality, use- 
fulness, and power. 

That Northcliffe has more than an average 
proportion of enemies and detractors, that 
he has been misunderstood and misrepre- 
sented, is admitted. Even his remarkable 
success and swift rise to eminence and influ- 
ence have served to create enmity. Success 

416 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 417 

in others is apt to sour those who have failed 
to achieve success themselves, and frequently 
it begets opposition that is cruel and unjust. 

Northcliffe's fault, if fault it be, is that 
he has succeeded too well. Success is a 
hard thing for some people to forgive; per- 
sonality repels as well as attracts. ' It is 
enough for a man to have distinction and 
brains for every malicious tongue to wag 
against him. Northcliffe has been a trail- 
maker, and for that reason he is not under- 
stood by many conservative people in Eng- 
land who shudder at every startling result of 
social progress and sigh for the good old 
times. 

In the career of Lord Northcliffe, how- 
ever, the maxim, " To foresee is to rule," 
has been illustrated repeatedly. It is be- 
cause of his ability to sense coming events 
— the highest expression of journahstic 
genius — and his skill in meeting new condi- 
tions that have placed him in the front rank 
of British public life, and have gained for 
him such a vast following that in comparison 
with those who accept his views and believe 
in him, his opponents sink into insignifi- 
cance. 



418 NORTHCLIFFE 

In attempting to forecast what the future 
may hold for Lord Northcliflfe it is essen- 
tial to bear these facts in mind, and to con- 
sider what scope he is likely to find, in com- 
ing years, for his originality, his energy, and 
his ability to deal with new problems. As 
we look to the future it is easy to foresee 
that such talents as his will have unprece- 
dented opportunities for their exercise in 
the stupendous work that lies ahead. Strong 
men who can wisely direct the efforts of 
others are always needed. They were 
needed in 1915 when Great Britain was 
struggling against muddling inefficiency. 
They will be needed still more when the 
war comes to an end and the gigantic work 
of reconstruction begins. 

When that time comes Great Britain will 
need the services of the business statesman 
of Lord Northcliffe's caliber. His thorough 
knowledge of British social questions and 
his progressive views regarding capital and 
labor and the upbuilding of foreign trade, 
through his intimate knowledge of foreign 
countries, — their resources, industries, and 
business conditions, — fit him to become a 
prominent figure in the momentous delibera- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 419 

tions which must follow the return of peace. 
What Great Britain will need then is 
not professional politicians, but hard-headed, 
sophisticated business experts, familiar with 
the whole world. 

That Lord Northchffe, more than any- 
other man in England, has the power to 
bring about important reforms and accom- 
plish speedily what would otherwise require 
much time to effect has been admitted by no 
less an authority than Lloyd George, the 
prime minister. For many years North- 
cliffe was Lloyd George's most bitter critic. 
He has now become his ally in the govern- 
ment of the British Empire. In comment- 
ing on this fact, a recent English writer 
pointed out that despite the differences in 
their outlook on life there are wonderful 
resemblances between the two men. There 
are sympathies too. " Northcliffe," the 
writer observed, "early recognized that 
Lloyd George was a person to be watched, 
not because of his speeches, but because he 
was a man of action. On one occasion 
Lloyd George, in speaking of Northcliffe, 
remarked: * What a power this man can be 
whenever he chooses! He can carry through 



420 NORTHCLIFFE 

a political project while we are thinking 
about it. We talk of tackling the question 
of housing the poor people of this country, 
for instance. He could do it single 
handed.' " 

When the stress of war time has ended. 
Lord Northcliffe will have an immense field 
of endeavor in which to exert his energies. 
He has been of immeasurable service to his 
country during the war, but great as his 
past deeds have been they may become 
of secondary importance to that which 
he is likely to accompUsh in coming 
years. 

Whatever happens, one thing is certain, 
that when the war ends, as it must some 
day, there is bound to be a staggering 
amount of political and industrial disloca- 
tion in which Great Britain, among other 
countries, will have to share. The war has 
destroyed wealth beyond precedent, trade 
has become disorganized, and each of the 
combatant powers has added stupendous 
burdens to its national debt. In Britain, 
when peace returns, great questions will 
crowd upon each other for attention, ques- 
tions of domestic and foreign policy, of 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 421 

social and industrial reconstruction. To 
meet the difficulties imposed by the war 
some revolutionary experiments have been 
made. These innovations will have to be 
carefully and dispassionately surveyed with 
a view to deciding whether they shall be 
retained or discarded. 

To deal successfully with this colossal 
work of reconstruction new methods will be 
required. It will also demand administra- 
tive ability of the highest order. For the 
old school of English politicians to attempt 
to grapple with it would be a hopeless pro- 
ceeding. Here it is that Lord Northcliffe 
seems predestined to take a foremost part. 
His genius in foreseeing the approach of 
new conditions, and his skill in solving new 
problems, which have made him the greatest 
force in British public life and placed him 
at the head of the popular current of 
thought, will assuredly enable him to assist 
in the giant task of restoring prosperity to 
his war-worn country. 

It has been predicted that when the dust 
and din of war time have cleared away a 
new era will dawn, and that its approach 
will be heralded by political and social 



422 NORTHCLIFFE 

changes of a radical nature. In England 
such an inspired prophet as H. G. Wells 
foresees the advent of a new economic sys- 
tem in which private capitalism will eventu- 
ally disappear and government ownership 
will emerge. In his recent work, " What Is 
Coming," he has given the reason in a few 
words — "Whereas we were individualists," 
he says, " now we are socialists." 

Radical leaders of the people in Great 
Britain are bent on effecting far more dras- 
tic changes than even Mr. Wells foresees. 
They declare that not only must every trace 
of capitalism be obliterated, but the whole 
social fabric must be reconstructed. Class 
distinctions must be abohshed, the govern- 
ment must be remodeled, and the working 
people must rule. Opposed to these radi- 
cals and their followers are the conservative 
middle and upper classes, who would un- 
doubtedly prefer to see "Business resumed 
as before" when the war is over. 

Always closely in touch with public feel- 
ing, and glimpsing future events by pres- 
ent indications. Lord Northcliffe has already 
perceived that a great change is certain to 
be wrought in British national life. Writ- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 423 

ing on this subject recently, he expressed 
some startling views. 

" I have talked with our soldiers at the 
front," he said, " and have discovered that 
they have strong ideas regarding capital and 
labor, government, education, and other 
questions which are paramount in the public 
mind to-day. After the war two million 
young men who have been through rough 
hell for their country will require better 
working conditions as the price of their 
sacrifice. Just as Grant's soldiers, the 
Grand Army of the Republic, dominated 
elections in the United States for a quarter 
of a century after the Civil War, so will the 
men I have seen in the trenches go home and 
demand by their votes the reward of a 
changed England, an England that is likely 
to be as much of a surprise to the present 
owners of capital as it may be to the owners 
of land. As the result of this change there 
is certain to be a great social development in 
Britain. Eventually there will be a change 
in the wage system. The rich will become 
poorer and the poor richer. A species of 
state socialism seems inevitable. The social- 
ism of the soldiers is not of that irrespon- 



424 NORTHCLIFFE 

sible type which is nothing but anarchism, 
but they have made their sacrifices to the 
uttermost, and when they return they will 
see to it that they control the government." 

The extent to which British industries 
and labor have been dislocated by the war 
can be understood when it is explained that 
four million men from all ranks of hfe are 
now serving in the British army, while sev- 
eral milhons of men and women are em- 
ployed in the government munition factories 
or in industries subserving war purposes. 
A large proportion of the latter must be 
got back to employment of a different char- 
acter within a year after the return of peace. 
Places must also be found for the milhons 
of soldiers who will return to civil life. 

In the meantime trade has been crippled 
and transportation disorganized, so that any 
attempt to resume business on a normal basis 
would result in chaos. The men returning 
from the trenches, as Lord Northcliffe re- 
marks, will feel that they have deserved well 
of their country and will not be inclined to 
stand any nonsense from the governing 
classes. Many of them will have been in- 
fected with radical ideas regarding capital- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 425 

ism and the rights of labor. Clear-headed 
statesmanship, therefore, will be needed to 
avert disaster. 

All these possibilities have been plainly 
foreseen by Lord Northcliffe, and in his 
practical manner of dealing with serious 
problems he has urged that in time of war 
preparations should be made for the re- 
adjustments of peace. Influenced by the 
arguments of his newspapers, which had 
repeatedly called attention to this important 
subject, the British government was led to 
appoint a Ministry of Reconstruction under 
the direction of the Right Honorable Chris- 
topher Addison, M.D. This board is now 
working out an orderly and scientific system 
of rehabilitation. Its principal object is to 
prevent confusion and suffering when the 
war has ended, by readjusting the army and 
war machinery to peace conditions. 

Dr. Addison, it may be added, is one of 
the miracles wrought by the war. Ten years 
ago he was professor of anatomy at Univer- 
sity College, Sheffield. Entering Parlia- 
ment, he sided with Lloyd George in the 
great reform campaign which made the fa- 
mous Welshman's career as Chancellor of 



426 NORTHCLIFFE 

the Exchequer one continuous storm. At 
that time Dr. Addison wrote the Health In- 
surance Act which was passed by Parlia- 
ment. He showed such marked ability in 
other directions that in 1915 he became one 
of the co-workers with Lloyd George, who 
was then Minister of Munitions. When his 
associate ultimately became prime minister. 
Dr. Addison succeeded him as head of the 
munitions department. 

Such have been the experiences of the 
former doctor. It has been equaled only by 
the career of Sir Auckland Geddes, brother 
of Sir Eric Geddes, who was for several 
years professor of anatomy at McGill 
University, Montreal, and afterwards be- 
came Britain's minister for national serv- 
ice. With the same degree of skill that 
he displayed as a professor of anatomy Dr. 
Addison has taken up the gigantic task of 
business reconstruction. At his office near 
Queen Anne's Gate in London a visitor will 
find the whole vast scheme of readjusting 
finance, labor, and demobilizing men and in- 
dustry mapped out on charts with every task 
outlined, each department having a staff of 
statisticians and expert investigators. 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 427 

One of the first problems that will have to 
be dealt with by the government experts is 
the employment of a large proportion of the 
four million British soldiers who will be dis- 
banded. According to present plans, men 
belonging to the essential industries will be 
rushed home immediately, regard being 
taken as to whether they are married or 
single. Soldiers whose places have been re- 
served for them will also return. There 
will be about one million of this class. Then 
the other classes will be gradually returned 
to civil life and set at work. 

Here it is that a serious difficulty arises. 
It will be impossible for most of these work- 
ers to return to their former occupations. 
Thousands of private firms which were 
flourishing in 1914 exist to-day only as names 
or empty shells. Their staffs have been dis- 
persed, their machinery exchanged, rebuilt, 
or modified, their buildings enlarged or taken 
over by the government. As the result of 
the government having embarked in the 
business of munition making on a gigantic 
scale, there are more than four thousand 
government-owned factories in Britain. 

It has been proposed by various social- 



428 NORTHCLIFFE 

istic writers that these factories shall remain 
under government control and produce com- 
modities urgently needed. The same plan, 
it is urged, might be followed to some extent 
with shipbuilding. Such an arrangement 
would provide immediate employment for 
disbanded soldiers and also for large num- 
bers of workers now engaged in manufactur- 
ing war supplies. The war has done much 
to increase British efficiency. Thousands of 
hitherto untrained men are able to use lathe, 
drill, and engine. An equally large number 
of women have been trained in various 
crafts. What more obvious course, it is 
asked, than to keep the government plants 
in operation, manufacturing such things as 
standardized automobiles, railway equipment, 
electrical supplies, and food products? 

The government, it is argued, must con- 
tinue as an employer on a vast scale, for if 
the national factory system were suddenly 
abandoned the risk of social convulsion would 
be enormous. On the other hand, by keep- 
ing them in operation England would be 
equipped with standardized and intensified 
machinery capable of bringing about a new 
era of trade supremacy. 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 429 

When peace returns England will need 
labor-saving devices to an almost incredible 
extent if a new and scientific England is to 
arise out of the ruins of warfare. The ar- 
senals that have made shells can make type- 
writers, adding machines, cash registers, and 
other time-savers, and they may possibly do 
so. In the production of raw materials, in 
industrial research, in the promotion of effi- 
ciency and the upbuilding of foreign trade, 
the men of the reconstruction ministry are 
determined that England shall take the lead. 

Arrangements are being made for an all- 
British production of sugar, rubber, metals, 
chemicals, cereals, cotton, wool, jute, etc. 
Great Britain and her Allies, including the 
United States, control four fifths of the raw 
materials of the world. This important asset 
will be one of the strongest arguments in the 
readjustments of peace. To a great extent 
it will offset the bargaining value of the land 
the Germans have seized and ravaged. It 
also guarantees a new economic freedom. 

Among other proposals for making over 
Britain is a scheme for supplying British 
factories with electric power from sixteen 
stations, and thus saving fifty-five milUon 



430 NORTHCLIFFE 

tons of coal yearly. This, in turn, would 
release a host of men employed in the mines 
and enable them to take up other work. It 
is realized that if England is to compete in- 
dustrially with the rest of the world, she 
must have eiBcient tools, and more power is 
one of them. 

In spite of the government's efforts to 
readjust after-war conditions, the British 
radicals are not satisfied and are clamoring 
for a complete sweeping away of the capi- 
talistic system. These revolutionary ideas 
have permeated the working classes to some 
extent. They were much in evidence at a 
recent important labor meeting. On that 
occasion resolutions were presented, demand- 
ing the aboUtion of the wage system and a 
general conscription of wealth, one proposal 
being that all private funds amounting to 
over a thousand pounds should be seized. 

While it is true that these resolutions were 
rejected, and that the leaders of the British 
Labor party have been moderate in their 
views, still this aspect of the situation is dis- 
quieting because in these unsettled times 
revolutionary doctrines are apt to spread. 
The Labor party, it may be added, has forty 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 431 

members in the House of Commons and is 
likely to get a still larger representation. 
Some English writers predict that before 
long the party will control Parliament, and 
once in control its power is not likely to be 
relinquished. 

The British Labor party, it should be ex- 
plained, consists of trade-unions, labor or- 
ganizations of various kinds, and several 
socialistic groups. Membership is by groups, 
not by individuals. At the present time the 
party is in process of reconstruction to admit 
individuals and also to admit " brain work- 
ers." The " brain and hand movement," as 
it is termed, is intended to enroll professional 
men and other intellectual workers in the 
labor movement, and men of this class are 
entering the labor organizations in large 
numbers. With these acquisitions, it begins 
to look as if the British Labor party will 
soon be what the American Federation of 
Labor would be if it included practically all 
the labor organizations of the country and 
in addition the medical societies, law asso- 
ciations, engineering societies, and the Au- 
thors' League. In other words, the Labor 
party seeks to enroll all radicals and to form 



432 NORTHCLIFFE 

a new British party of democracy which will 
gain control of the government. 

The Socialist groups of the British Labor 
party are extremists and ardent pacifists. 
They have expressed warm admiration for 
the Bolsheviki and the criminal fanatics 
who caused the collapse of Russia. Fortu- 
nately this section is far in the minority, 
numbering only some thousands, while the 
saner membership runs into millions. But 
whenever the party as a whole has a special 
grievance it seems to give the extremists 
the lead, and they lose no opportunity to 
indulge in revolutionary sentiments. It is 
quite probable, however, that as the result of 
the upheavals caused by the war a new 
democracy will emerge in England, recogniz- 
ing no privileged class, not even a labor or 
even a male class. 

Some idea of the aims of the Labor party 
can be gathered from its programme for 
reconstruction, which was recently drawn 
up by a sub-committee. It visualizes, as 
no American party platform hitherto con- 
structed has done, the vital subjects of 
political and economic unrest which are grip- 
ping the world to-day. Some of the things 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 433 

which this remarkable document contains are 
not pertinent to the American pohtical situ- 
ation, but nevertheless it is worth the atten- 
tion of everyone, not only because of its 
clearness of expression, but also because 
there is every prospect that in the near future 
the Labor party will become the dominant 
power in the British Parliament, and there- 
fore in the government. 

In this document the leaders of the party 
have described, with remarkable warmth, the 
struggles and sufferings of the laboring 
classes in Great Britain. They outline the 
failures and successes of the labor movement, 
and point with remarkable penetration to 
the future aspirations of the masses of mod- 
erately circumstanced people in the United 
Kingdom. 

In the opinion of the Labor party, what 
has to be reconstructed after the war is not 
this or that government department, or this 
or that piece of social machinery, but so far 
as Britain is concerned, society itself. On 
this point the statement is made : " We recog- 
nize in the present catastrophe in Europe 
the culmination and collapse of a distinctive 
industrial civilization which the workers will 



434 NORTHCLIFFE 

not seek to reconstruct." Briefly summa- 
rized, the main points of the Labor party's 
ambitious programme are as follows: 

Government responsibility for obtaining em- 
ployment at a minimum wage, and government 
maintenance of " willing workers " for whom em- 
ployment cannot be found. 

The progressive elimination from the control of 
industry of the private capitalist; eventual com- 
mon ownership of the means of production, includ- 
ing land, and immediate nationalization of mines, 
railroads, steamship lines, and the production of 
electric power. 

Meeting of national expenses mainly by direct 
taxation of incomes and inheritances. 

Devotion of surplus profits above the " standard 
of life " to the common use of the people. 

Devolution of the British Empire into an alli- 
ance of autonomous States, with increasing self- 
government for India and other dependencies as 
rapidly as the peoples are fitted for it. 

To carry out the general details of this 
programme would practically lead to the 
establishment of the Socialist State. The 
plan, however, does not contemplate the in- 
troduction of everything at once, and there 
is no evidence that anything but political 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 435 

action is to be employed to bring about these 
changes. 

According to the present plans of the Brit- 
ish Labor party, capital is to remain for the 
present, the wage system will also remain, 
and the new order is to be rooted in and 
based on the old order. The document 
shows, in a striking way, that the British 
labor movement, hke our own, is evolution- 
ary, and has little of the revolutionary spirit 
of the wage-earning classes of the European 
continent. British and American workers 
have a longer tradition of liberty behind 
them, are more sophisticated, and have ana- 
lyzed more deeply and experimented more 
thoroughly. As a rule, they prefer a smooth 
transition to a new order along constitutional 
lines. Formula-loving continental prole- 
tarianism is more naive, immature, and de- 
ductive than the more grown-up proletarian- 
ism of Great Britain and America, where 
capitalism directly rests on the public will. 

But the British programme, rich in pro- 
visions to make capitalism declare greater 
dividends to workers, does not clearly show 
how the industrial product is to be increased 
sufficiently to meet new distribution de- 



436 NORTHCLIFFE 

mands. The leaders of the British Labor 
party are, of course, clear enough thinkers 
to recognize that goods can be divided only 
after their creation. Yet they have little 
to say on this essential phase of the indus- 
trial problem. 

In the United States few of the advocates 
of class war are taken seriously, but there 
are undoubtedly many Americans who agree 
with the views of Charles M. Schwab, the 
head of the Bethlehem Steel Company, who 
is not likely to be suspected of Bolshevik 
sympathies. In discussing the modern labor 
movement recently, he said: "Call it Social- 
ism, social revolution, Bolshevism, what you 
will, it is a leveling process, and means that 
the workman without property who labors 
with his hands is going to be the man who 
will dominate the world. It is going to be a 
great hardship to the owners of private prop- 
erty, but like all revolutions it will probably 
work for good." 

It is a significant fact that apart from 
the declarations of the Labor party and the 
utterances of prominent radicals, the phrase 
" Conscription of wealth " has been much 
employed by British statesmen and econo- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 437 

mists in recent times. Although many peo- 
ple suppose the principle suggested to be 
entirely new, the United States has a prop- 
erty tax, Germany, for military purposes, 
levied heavily on capital just before the war, 
and " conscription of wealth " is already 
practiced in England through the higher 
rate of income tax imposed on " unearned 
income." 

As a means of paying off Britain's gigan- 
tic war debt, " conscription of wealth " is 
said to be favored, to some extent, by the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Bonar Law, 
and by Lloyd George, the prime minister. 
Stated concisely, the argument is as follows: 
The total wealth of the nation is estimated at 
a hundred billion dollars ; say the net amount 
of the war debt is twenty billions; a tax of 
twenty per cent on all property would pay 
it; appraise everyone's estate just as if an 
inheritance tax were levied against it; assess 
it twenty per cent. As very few people 
have one-fifth of their property in cash, 
however, it has been proposed that the tax 
should be levied in installments spread over 
a number of years. It has also been pro- 
posed that small property owners should be 



438 NORTHCLIFFE 

exempt from taxation, that fortunes of ten 
thousand dollars should pay about five per 
cent, while on larger amounts of capital the 
rates should be proportionately increased. 

These drastic plans for obtaining increased 
revenue have been much opposed by Brit- 
ish financial experts and others. Hartley 
Withers, editor of the Economist, who is 
regarded as one of the most brilhant stu- 
dents of finance in England, has taken 
this position. In a recent article he said: 
" There is the very serious economic objec- 
tion that taxation which is aimed at accumu- 
lated savings may have far-reaching effects 
in checking the desire to save, on which the 
nation's industrial progress depends. For it 
is only out of savings that we can provide 
the capital which is essential to the exten- 
sion of industry and the full employment of 
all the labor that will be set free when the 
war is over." 

With labor gaining in power, the attitude 
of the British trade-unions is likely to cause 
much concern when peace readjustments be- 
gin. To avoid trouble with the unions, the 
British government induced capital and 
labor to waive their differences temporarily. 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 439 

There were to be no strikes or lockouts dur- 
ing the war. Penalties were prescribed for 
employers or laborers who broke the agree- 
ment. When peace returns these restrictions 
will be removed. Predictions are made that 
the unions will then put forth strenuous 
efforts to regain their former power. 

During the war the ranks of skilled labor 
have been invaded by thousands of men and 
women unconnected with the unions, while 
large numbers of soldiers retired from the 
ranks have been set at work in various in- 
idus tries. The unions, it is asserted, will 
probably refuse to allow these newcomers 
to compete with union labor, and any oppo- 
sition to union demands will precipitate 
strikes which may have serious results. 

The subject of non-union workers has, 
however, been taken up by the Labor party, 
whose declaration in regard to the minimum 
wage reads as follows: 

" In view of the fact that many millions of wage 
earners, notably women and the less-skilled work- 
men in various occupations, are unable by com- 
bination to obtain wages adequate for decent main- 
tenance in health, the Labor party intends to see to 
it that the Trade Boards act is suitably amended 



440 NORTHCLIFFE 

and made to apply to all industrial employments in 
which any considerable number of those employed 
obtain less than 30 shillings per week. This 
minimum of not less than 30 shillings per week 
(which will need revision according to the level of 
prices) ought to be the very lowest statutory base 
line for the least-skilled adult workers, men or 
women, in any occupation in all parts of the United 
Kingdom." 

The spirit of discontent in the ranks of 
union labor, which also exists among other 
classes of workers, has caused much un- 
rest. It IS significant that Lord North- 
cliffe's great daily. The Times, recently 
treated this subject frankly in a series of 
articles entitled "The Ferment of Revolu- 
tion," which contained misty presages of evil 
and declared that there is a rank and file 
movement in British labor, with its subservi- 
ence to the official hierarchy of trade-union- 
ism, that deserves the watchful attention of 
the public. Sidney Webb, the well-known 
English writer, asserts that industrial unrest 
in England has become so acute as to create 
a possibility of spontaneous industrial dis- 
turbance. 

In a recent pastoral letterj Cardinal 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 441 

Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, dwelt 
upon the grave changes in English social 
conditions caused by the war. " During the 
war," he said, " the minds of the people have 
been profoundly altered. Dull acquiescence 
in social injustice has given way to active 
discontent. The very foundations of politi- 
cal and social life, of our economic system, 
of morals and religion, are being sharply 
scrutinized, and this not only by a few 
writers and speakers, but by a very large 
number of people in every class of life, espe- 
cially among the workers. Our institutions, 
it is felt, must justify themselves at the bar 
of reason. They can no longer be taken for 
granted. The army, for instance, is not only 
fighting, it is also thinking. 

" The munition workers, hard working, 
but overstrained by long hours and heavy 
work, alternately flattered and censured, 
subjected sometimes to irritating mismanage- 
ment and anxious about the future, tend to 
be resentful and suspicious of the public 
authorities and political leaders. They, too, 
are questioning the whole system of society." 

Conservative Englishmen, unperturbed by 
these alarmist views, are convinced that when 



442 NORTHCLIFFE 

the war ends British national hfe will con- 
tinue in much the same way as before. Men 
who are conversant with affairs, however, 
take an entirely different view. H. G. 
Wells, as already explained, insists that 
Britain is on the eve of a complete social 
change. The old capitaUstic system, he de- 
clares, has gone forever, and it would be 
just as easy to restore the Carthaginian Em- 
pire as to put back British industrialism into 
the factories and farms of the pre-war era. 
" There is," he says, "a new economic 
Britain to-day, emergency made, flimsily 
built, no doubt, a gawky, weedy giant, but a 
giant who may fill out to such dimensions as 
the German national system has never at- 
tained. Behind it is an idea, a new idea, the 
idea of the nation as one great economic 
system working together, an idea which 
could not possibly have got into the sluggish, 
conservative British intelligence in half a 
century by any other means than the stark 
necessities of this war." 

Mr. Wells has been called a dreamer and 
idealist, but strangely enough, one of the 
greatest financial authorities in the United 
States has taken practically the same view 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 443 

of the future. In writing on after-war con- 
ditions recently he said: " In the State of the 
future, particularly in Europe after the 
war, the most efficient government promotion 
of industries in many lines will be held to 
exist in actual government ownership and 
operation. More than ever before will States 
become sohd industrial and financial unions 
organized for world competition, driven by 
the necessity of perfecting a system of the 
greatest efficiency, economy, and thrift in 
order to be able to meet the incredible bur- 
dens created by the war." 

When all the confusion and wrangling of 
the reconstruction period have ended, Eng- 
land's prophets foresee the advent of im- 
proved conditions. Two evils of the capi- 
talistic system, poverty and unemployment, 
are likely to be mitigated. The war has 
shown that under a system of government 
ownership every capable worker can be 
profitably employed. Under the old sys- 
tem men have been scrapped in the prime 
of life to make way for younger and cheaper 
workers, with the result that our large cities 
have been filled with efficient unemployed 
men whose services have been lost to the 



444 NORTHCLIFFE 

community. During the war the number of 
these victims of a wasteful and pernicious 
system has been materially reduced. In 
Britain the Labor party is determined to 
make it possible for every willing worker to 
earn a decent livelihood and to have no fear 
of a poverty-stricken old age. 

In the matter of profit sharing Lord 
Northchffe has set a notable example for 
the world. In his opinion, even the large- 
wage system of Henry Ford is not sat- 
isfactory. Employees, he believes, should 
receive a percentage of the profits. " That 
principle," he says, "must eventually be in- 
troduced in all businesses. When the men 
get back from the trenches, that is the sort 
of thing they are going to demand." 

As the result of the labor movement there 
has been a widespread demand in England 
for improvement in the education of the 
masses. At the present time the " board 
schools " are much inferior to the American 
public schools. They teach the working-class 
child very little and make no effort to inspire 
him to rise above his station. Class preju- 
dices have been largely responsible for this, 
but in the new order of things the depress- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 445 

ing influence of caste, which has been called 
" the curse of England," may possibly be 
modified. 

Even the education of the higher classes 
is likely to undergo some important changes. 
In his recent work Mr. Wells predicts that 
in the future it will be modernized and made 
more practical. " Our boys," he says, " will 
be studying science in their colleges more 
thoroughly than they do now, and they will 
in many cases be learning Russian instead of 
Greek or German. More of them will be 
going into the public service as engineers, 
technical chemists, state agriculturists, and 
the like, instead of entering private business. 
The public service will be less a service of 
clerks and more a service of practical men." 

Through his newspapers Lord Northcliffe 
has done much to arouse the British people 
to the importance of increasing their indus- 
trial efficiency by an improvement in techni- 
cal education. He has also taken a foremost 
part in what is known as the " Back to the 
land " movement. Among other things he 
has advocated a system of intensive farming 
by small land holders. It is probable that 
some of these ideas will be put into practical 



446 NORTHCLIFFE 

effect. Thousands of men who have been 
drawn into the army from shops, factories, 
and offices, and have been hardened and 
stimulated by out-of-door Hfe, will have no 
inclination to return to their former condi- 
tions. The government has been urged to 
acquire large tracts of farming land for 
settlers of this description, and to put up 
cottages and farm buildings for them. Such 
a plan, if carried out, would, it is argued, 
greatly increase the food supplies of the 
nation. 

In talking with the men at the front. 
Lord Northcliffe found that the question of 
land nationalization formed a popular topic 
of their discussions. " The British soldier," 
he said, " has seen enough in France to 
know that a man and his family can manage 
a bit of land for themselves and live on it. 
A young sergeant told me that the men in 
the trenches discuss a great many subjects, 
and while there is the usual difference of 
opinion, there is one subject on which all are 
agreed, and that is the land question. They 
are not going back as laborers or tenants, 
but as owners. Most of them have used their 
eyes to good advantage. I wonder if the 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 447 

people and politicians in England understand 
that the bravery and camaraderie of officers 
and men in the field have broken down all 
class feeling, and that the millions of men 
abroad are changed communities of whose 
thoughts and aims little is known." 

Among the subjects likely to receive at- 
tention when peace returns is the question 
of women's suffrage. That some system of 
votes for women will be introduced in Britain 
seems practically certain. A new type of 
woman is emerging from the war, and the 
demand for political rights and freedom 
from social restrictions will probably be 
more insistent than ever. It is also probable 
that one of its results will be some reform 
of the English laws of marriage and divorce, 
more particularly in the latter. A few years 
ago a parliamentary commission reported in 
favor of modernizing the present barbarous 
divorce law of England. 

In his predictions of the future, H. G. 
Wells has expressed the belief that eventu- 
ally marriage will be based upon compati- 
bility, and therefore be more amenable to 
divorce than the old unions which were 
based upon the kitchen and nursery. Mar- 



448 NORTHCLIFFE 

riage, he says, will not only be lighter but 
more durable. " Women will be much more 
definitely independent of their sexual status, 
much less hampered in self -development, and 
much more nearly equal to men than has 
ever been known before in the whole his- 
tory of mankind." 

During the war many English industries 
formerly considered the exclusive province 
of men have been invaded by women. There 
is scarcely a point where, given a chance, 
women have not made good. As stated in 
the first chapter, hundreds of thousands of 
women and girls, when the war began, were 
turned out of such feminine trades as dress- 
making, milUnery, and confectionery, as well 
as the so-called luxury trades, such as 
jewelry. These women, with thousands of 
office workers and domestic workers, were 
drafted into the munition factories. The 
number of women included in the engineer- 
ing trades alone has reached 800,000, many 
filling places formerly held by men. 

The government also gathered in workers 
from the women's universities and higher 
schools, the suffrage societies and women's 
organizations. Women of superior intelh- 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS M9 

gence from business and the professions 
were called upon to help in organizing the 
munition factories on a basis of health, 
safety, and efficiency. 

Working together, the women in charge 
have performed a feat which has been de- 
scribed as an industrial revolution. They 
have set standards of humanity in factories 
which it would be criminal to lower. They 
have estabhshed an efficiency system such 
as England never dreamed of before, and 
they have created a working class which will 
never consent to be placed on a basis much 
lower than it now occupies. 

Although women have proved their worth 
to the greatest extent in the munition plants 
and in farming work, the variety of other 
occupations in which they are usefully em- 
ployed is enormous. They have served in 
the fire brigades, in the subways, on the 
street cars, in warehouses, on railroads, in 
banks, in the government service, behind the 
army, and in reconstruction work. In fact, 
it is difficult to mention an occupation in 
which they have not engaged. 

It is realized that women are likely to 
continue in many of these employments 



450 NORTHCLIFFE 

after the war, although it is not easy to 
foresee what will result from their competi- 
tion with men, or what the attitude of the 
trade-unions will be. Leaders of the wom- 
en's movement assert, however, that owing to 
the losses of the war there will be fewer men 
to fill positions. There will be a greater 
necessity for women to work than there was 
before, because a smaller number of them 
will be able to marry. Thus for a genera- 
tion at least they will be free to do a large 
amount of the world's work. 

In discussing this subject recently. Lord 
Northcliffe observed that while throughout 
the English-speaking world the sheltering of 
women had been a matter of pride with men, 
and they had not cared to see women at 
work in the fields or engaging in other 
manual labor, there had been a great deal 
of self-deception about this matter. In most 
of the indoor and many of the outdoor occu- 
pations there were still wide fields of oppor- 
tunity for women, although there was an 
objection to women entering employments 
for which they were not physically adapted. 
On the other hand, no self-respecting male 
should engage in occupations for which 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 451 

women are peculiarly adapted, such as type- 
writing, matching ribbons behind a counter, 
or piano playing. That problem, however, 
would probably settle itself, for large num- 
bers of young men who have been hardened 
in the trenches will have no desire to re- 
enter gentle and essentially feminine pur- 
suits in which they had formerly made their 
living. 

As his story has shown, Lord Northcliffe 
was the first public man in Great Britain 
to grasp the fact that modern warfare is 
primarily a stupendous business undertak- 
ing, and that battles in these days are won 
chiefly through organization and efficiency in 
matters of transportation and supplies. He 
took the lead in securing the abolition of 
the time-honored administrative system and 
replacing it with a compact war cabinet of 
practical business men. 

A business administration supplied Great 
Britain with an excellent system of war 
taxation. By a simple procedure, a tax of 
eighty per cent is levied on the excess profits 
of a business, which means, for example, 
the amount by which 1917 earnings exceeded 
the average earnings in pre-war years. 



452 NORTHCLIFFE 

Carefully worked out and modified by ex- 
perience, this system has proved thoroughly 
successful. 

The new system of government has proved 
so satisfactory that a demand has arisen for 
the continuance of a business administration 
when peace returns. Those opposed to the 
idea assert that the term " business govern- 
ment," if analyzed, is meaningless; that an 
ordinary expert is an official without experi- 
ence ; that statesmen of the old school, trained 
in the science of government, are still needed 
to rule the destinies of the nation. 

Conservatism is strong in England, and 
even Mr. Wells is not quite sure that the 
nation will at once take the right course 
by adopting state socialism. " There is," he 
says, " no spirit of cooperation between labor 
and the directing classes." It is also idle to 
ignore the forces still entrenched in the es- 
tablished church, in the universities and great 
schools, and the influence of class prejudice. 
He argues, however, that if masses of im- 
employed and unfed people are released 
clumsily into a world of risen prices and 
rising rents, of greedy speculators and ham- 
pered enterprises, there will be insurrection 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 453 

and revolution, bloodshed in the streets and 
chasing of rulers. 

In devising means to avert these threat- 
ened social upheavals, and in helping to solve 
the stupendous problems which will be pre- 
sented when the war is over, it is certain 
that Lord Northcliffe will be one of the 
chief instruments. It is still true that the 
man who knows, who can think, and who 
can write holds a sword of Damocles over the 
head of every poUtician. The older parties 
in England may be disintegrated, new ones 
may be formed, and many ideas once con- 
sidered dangerously radical may be adopted. 
History has shown, however, that the radical 
ideas of one generation oftentimes become 
the conservative ideas of the succeeding age, 
and that which was considered radical was 
radical only because it was new and untried. 
Old party ideas are swept away, traditional 
notions are dethroned, and the nation's lead- 
ers deal with facts. 

In the great battle which is certain to be 
fought between conservatism and radicalism 
in Great Britain, with various factions inter- 
posed, it is safe to predict that Lord North- 
cliffe will be foimd on whatever side repre- 



454 NORTHCLIFFE 

sents progress, stability, and common sense. 
Although he believes in the cause of democ- 
racy and has opposed the retention of old 
ideas that have prevented advancement, he 
has been keen visioned enough to realize 
that a spurious brand of democracy has 
arisen in recent times which means simply 
the bludgeoning of the people by the people 
for the people. There is also a brand of 
socialism which aims to bring humanity to a 
dead level of mediocrity, and to crush out 
individuality as effectually as it has been 
crushed in Germany. 

Such were the views expressed by Colonel 
George Harvey, editor of the North Ameri- 
can Review^ in the course of an eloquent 
address delivered at a gathering of the Pil- 
grims' Society in New York, when Lord 
Northcliffe was the guest of honor. In 
hailing the distinguished Briton as a product 
of free institutions and a free social system, 
Colonel Harvey said: "History has proved 
that the only hope of the human race is in 
the development of able individuals. With- 
draw ten thousand of the best minds of any 
country, and you would atrophy the nation 
to mediocrity. At the present time the 



WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 455 

whole future of the human race is in the 
balance. Great Britain stands upon the 
brink of economic heresy. Even America, 
the great republic, dedicated to promote the 
consciousness and liberty of the individual, 
has paused in her marvelous career under 
the pandering influences of political aspir- 
ants regardless of anything but their own 
selfish ends. 

" For that reason Lord Northchffe inter- 
ests us as a living indicator of the funda- 
mental truth whose recognition has made 
great every Anglo-Saxon people. It is the 
triumph of individuahsm, and the exemphfi- 
cation of the wisdom of conferring upon the 
maximum of capacity the maximum of re- 
ward. Lord Northcliife is a Briton in 
every fiber of his being, but he has grown 
as an American grows. He inherited brains, 
and discovered how to use them in order to 
gain wealth, power, distinction, and honor 
at home and abroad. He has won by his 
own endeavors. Such a career as his could 
never have been possible in a state held in 
communal bondage." 

This magnificent tribute to the great jour- 
nalist, patriot, and public man forms an 



456 NORTHCLIFFE 

appropriate ending to the story of his rise 
from obscurity to eminence, his brilliant 
achievements, and his services for his coun- 
try. The embodiment of manifold attain- 
ments, forcefulness, and real worth, Vis- 
count Northcliffe assuredly represents the 
individualistic triumph of a man of genius. 
Providence apparently has ordained that 
whoever serves most shall reap most, a fact 
that has stood forth conspicuously in his 
career. Success in his case has come to mean 
service, a revelation of organized efficiency 
adapted to the national cause which, amidst 
the perplexities of war time, conveys to 
Americans an impressively significant lesson. 



H 313 85 i 











-^ .•'*' 
v.^"^ * 

lA^ 



40 



;<i 




.«^^ 6 O " O « <J^^ 



. << J- * -i^^fiJf^* 













/ ^* *- 




^ • ©lis * -^ V>. «» V Ji^V^ * AV "O, 



« » 



* ^ >> - • * - « ' 

4* /i$S?vI'- -^^ C'^ 




"o V* ? 







,1^^ 









* 4r *5^» ^^ 









•0^ .• 



«, I » 




9 1 1 










6""^ '^.Y/MW*' A^'-^. 






. >' 




.40^ 














* ,-e>^ "^^ " 















♦ 











_ <^ 




•^ 



,0^ 













































HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 



^^ JUN 85 








